


Friend, Make Sense of Me

by unknown_knowns



Series: Catharsis [3]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange: Before The Storm (Video Game)
Genre: BtS replacement fic, Chloe is a bit awkward at first, Drama, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Gay Panic, I mean any relationship is a slow burn compared to source lmao, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, a dollar a day can keep poorly-rushed episodes away, and chloe is moodier than source, awkward chloe best chloe, but most of them don't realize it, can I rant about how stupid that is, ep 1 is exploded into a much longer series of events, ep 3 is ... given the most help, literally every father figure in this canon is bad and awful, most of ep 2 is there, poor episode, since source trimmed her moodiness down so she'd be more relatable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-05-01 07:56:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 120,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14515860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_knowns/pseuds/unknown_knowns
Summary: After one eventful night, Chloe has to make sense of what her budding relationship with Rachel Amber means, and has no one else to turn to when suddenly her life at home changes for the worse.Little does she know how similar Rachel's predicament ultimately is.(Slowburn BtS rewrite from mostly Chloe POV. The story has been restructured entirely to give time for amberprice to develop naturally. and also it's gayer. way way gayer)





	1. Chapter 1

Chloe cracked her neck as she walked out of her house.

Her knuckles came next and she almost kicked up her skateboard – but she hesitated just shy of it.

Instead, she looked down to one of her hands and had a brief introspective moment, seeing all manner of studded wrap bracelets around her wrist.

This was really happening.

In just a short while she was going to go to the Mill, a somewhat seedy but well-known place for hosting music events.

It’d been two years since her life ended, basically, and yet here she was, doing things.

Almost like she had moved on, or something.

The thought made her scoff and she shook her head harshly.

She kicked her skateboard up and started to ride.

 

If she had moved on, her brain had a fucking stupid idea of what that meant, with those goddamn nightmares of her father starting.

Whatever.

That was then.

This was now.

 

Chloe put in some earbuds, ticked through her ipod, and put on one of her favorite songs.

This was going to be a good day, no matter what.

 

([“Wasted Days” – Cloud Nothings](https://open.spotify.com/track/5lNijPYeNgTuvf1eqWTota?si=LDo0KrXiTnqq7rPMIsLn7A))

Chloe closed her eyes, just briefly, as the song started to play and she emptied her mind through it.

This wasn’t unusual.

All throughout the day, she’d have her headphones in, listening to or that, trying to tune out the world and ignore it, forget about it, keep it away.

She had listened to so, so, so many songs.

There was just so much good music out there.

How could one not listen to everything?

Hear every note, every beat, every instrument.

As the instrumentation in the song picked up, Chloe felt the emotions associated with it start to flow through her, and she opened her eyes, smirking.

“Well I knoooooooooow my life’s not gonna change.”

She knew the lyrics to heart.

Of several songs, but ones that spoke to her, in particular.

It felt like she remembered songs and lyrics more easily than anything else.

She’d forget the names of people at school, random stuff people told her, blah blah – but she could remember everything to do with a particular song.

“And I liiiiiiiiiiiive through all these wasted days.”

The road and world just blurred by her, uninteresting, as she sung, listened to the song, and boarded down to her destination.

She had a while to go … but she had a lot of music to listen to.

The refreshing breeze of the slightly-biting cooling nighttime air kept her nice and awake and cool, too.

“Never thouuuuuuuuught that I’d end up this way.”

“And I knooooooooow, it’s gonna stay the same.”

The chorus was about to kick up.

She closed her eyes, and her voice picked up a bit in volume too.

 

“I thought, I would, be more, than thiiiiiiiis.”

 

Fuck.

 

Another verse, another chorus, and Chloe was totally dead to the world, only caring for her journey through this song and her incidental trip to the concert.

 

She didn’t have to think about anyone or anything when she was listening to music.

She just was.

 

It was several songs later before Chloe arrived at the concert venue – the mill – pretty uneventfully.

Frank’s RV was already here, and Chloe used it to hide her skateboard.

Afterwards, Chloe looked around.

The mill was a sort of giant wooden structure, aged and unimpressive except for its sheer size.

Several slants were decayed and sitting not quite right and several boards were either clearly replaced with more recent wood or reinforced with some sort of metal.

Frank’s RV was parked in what could only be called a court yard, a small section of the mill outside with a fireplace just by the main entrance.

There was a bouncer over there.

Several people were outside, but most of them looked disheveled, or maybe homeless.

Maybe they were just the refuse not seen as good enough to get inside.

 

Before Chloe could get too lost in her thoughts, Justin and Trevor, two of the local Blackwell skaters and casual friends of Chloe, came up to her.

Justin cleared his throat.

“So can you get us in?”

Chloe smirked and pulled out her fake ID.

“Duh.”

Justin and Trevor looked at each other incredulously, but shrugged and followed after Chloe as she walked up to the bouncer anyway.

The bouncer had to only barely look at the trio before scoffing playfully.

“I’m going to need to see some ID.”

Practically beaming, Chloe presented her fake.

“Check it. It’s legit.”

The bouncer, an obviously intimidating man with muscles for days yet somehow a warm and genuinely amused smile at the theatrics, just chuckled and shook his head.

“Really. When were you born, girl?”

Chloe blinked.

Uhhhhh.

“Uhhhhh …”

Justin and Trevor looked to each other and withheld a weary sigh.

So much for getting in tonight.

The bouncer shook his head again and flicked the ID onto the ground.

“Sorry, but no. It’s for your own safety. Some real tough customers are inside.”

Chloe grumbled miserably but picked up her faked ID and sort of awkwardly backed off with Justin and Trevor.

They spoke in a loose, hushed whisper.

“What do we do?”

Justin shrugged.

“Leave. We’re not getting in after that.”

Chloe frowned.

“Fuck that. They’re only going to play here once we _have_ to get in ---”

Trevor shrugged himself.

“Is it worth the hassle, dude?”

Chloe frowned more deeply and shoved herself away from the two of them.

Damn it.

The bouncer eyed them curiously but amusedly.

Maybe she could …

Fuck this.

She cracked her neck.

Justin and Trevor looked to each other, then to Chloe.

“Chloe …”

Justin’s voice was a little weary, but Chloe brushed it off.

“You again.”

The bouncer was still pretty entertained.

Not every day some obviously underage kids try to get into here.

Usually the reputation of the place alone kept them away.

Chloe cracked her knuckles.

“You think I need your protection to stay safe? I get into fights all of the time.”

The bouncer scoffed and crossed his arms, still amused.

“Is that so. Ever seen a knife?”

Chloe nodded.

“Have I! I’ve gotten stabbed even. But you shoulda seen the other dude. _Dudes_. Um. Multiple stabs. Multiple dudes that got wrecked. You know.”

The bouncer laughed.

“Let me guess. You’ve been shot before, too.”

Chloe punched one of her own palms with a fist, and grinned.

“Nah! But I got close. Y’see one time this dude brought a gun to my head and was like _grrr_ \---”

The bouncer uncrossed his arms and just plainly exposed his palms in mock surrender.

“--- Kid. You’re fun, but. No.”

Chloe frowned.

Damn it.

She could usually ---

She saw some motion out of her peripheral vision ---

Her eyes flicked to the side to see Frank leaving his RV.

She waved him down immediately.

“Frank!”

Frank immediately sighed as soon as he saw Chloe, but begrudgingly walked over anyway.

Frank Bowers was in many ways a modest, average man, of very average proportions and means.

But saliently, he had connections not just to the drug world, but this world here too, and he knew Chloe and some of the skaters, since he sold them their drugs.

He kind of looked like he belonged somewhere around here, anyway – he was unkempt and his clothes were a little funky and uneven, as though they had never been ironed before once in their life.

That probably wasn’t far off from reality.

Frank walked up to the four and looked at the bouncer.

“How’s it going, Thunder?”

The bouncer – Thunder, apparently, what a name – looked to Frank, and just laughed gently.

“These kids are trying to get in. The girl here has quite a mouth.”

Chloe frowned, but Frank laughed himself, crossed his arms, and looked to Chloe.

“That she does …”

He looked back to Thunder.

“Let them in.”

Thunder blinked.

“What?”

His eyebrows raised slightly and that amused expression transitioned to something more akin to shock.

Frank shrugged.

“I’ll keep an eye on them. They just want to see the band, not rumble with anyone inside.”

Thunder sighed wearily.

“If Damon hears I let some _little_ kids into his ---”

Frank shook his head.

“--- he won’t.”

He looked off to the trio of Chloe and skaters,

“Right?”

All three of them diligently nodded.

Thunder then just groaned and hesitated.

“Fine. Just … keep them away from Damon. For me.”

Frank smiled.

“Of course.”

Thunder stepped aside and Chloe had to resist literally fist pumping right there and then.

Instead, the three just followed Frank inside the mill.

Almost immediately though, the group split up; Frank seemed to just vanish, and Justin and Trevor started walking in deeper into the mill.

Chloe, however, just stood aghast at the sight inside.

Wow.

 

\---

 

Damon slammed his knife down on the table.

“Damnit, Frank.”

Frank crossed his arms and his expression died.

But he didn’t say anything in response.

Damon just stared for a few seconds, looked around the room for a few moments, then pulled the knife out of the table again and sheathed it.

He walked around the table until he was just shy of Frank.

“We’ve been over this a lot.”

Frank frowned.

“Yeah. We have.”

Damon just stared some more while Frank stared right back at him.

“You can’t go easy on these little shits like this.”

Frank sighed and uncrossed his arms with a weary little head shake.

“They’re _kids._ ”

Damon raised an eyebrow, then shook his head.

“No. They’re not. They’re small adults and you’re talking about thousands of fucking dollars, now.”

Frank went quiet in consideration, looking away from Damon.

This definitely wasn’t the first time they had had this conversation … not since Damon started to help him run more serious kinds of drugs, anyway.

Damon saw he wasn’t going to respond, so he just sighed and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

He reached into his jacket to pull out Frank’s client book and slammed it down on the table.

Frank looked over to it with a frown, of course recognizing it.

“Where’d you get that.”

Damon shook his head.

“Nevermind that.”

He opened it and flicked to a particular page, then shoved the book more towards Frank.

“You let this one idiot get 3 grand in the red.”

Frank looked down to the page and of course knew what the offending line item was.

He crossed his arms again.

“The kid means well. He just needs more time. His supply isn’t selling well and ---”

Damon shoved Frank’s shoulder, and the two looked to one another again.

“--- he’s playing you like a pussy.”

Frank frowned.

“Maybe _your_ clients are selfish assholes, but ---”

Damon just shook his head.

“--- _all_ clients are going to try and take advantage of you. _Everyone_ will. That’s how the world fucking works. You have to make sure _your_ interests are being served first before these little shit heads.”

Frank looked away again, considering.

After a few more tense seconds, Damon sighed wearily and placed his hand carefully on Frank’s shoulder.

Frank looked over to him again inquisitively, down at the hand first before his face.

Damon frowned, but then softened up his face.

“Look. I’m telling you all of this shit because I want you to succeed. I want _us_ to succeed.”

Frank continued to look carefully at him.

Damon inched a few steps closer and moved his hand over to Frank’s other shoulder, crossing his arm all the way across his back and looking forward.

Frank looked forward too.

Damon closed his eyes.

“Oregon’s just the start. You don’t want to be stuck in this tiny shit hole town your entire life, do you?”

Frank sighed.

“No …”

Damon rubbed at that shoulder before pulling his hand free and crossing his arms.

“… then listen to me when I say what I do. I want you by my side again, Frank, just like old times in LA …”

The two went quiet.

“… I swear this tiny shit town has changed you.”

Frank frowned and turned to shove Damon’s shoulder.

“It hasn’t.”

He didn’t hesitate, and the words came out pretty forcefully.

Damon grinned, and moved along with the shove.

He then pulled out his knife again and gingerly ran it just along the surface of the client book’s page, underlining the particular line item he was interested in.

“Then prove it. Get your money back from this lying sack of shit.”

Frank’s expression cracked a bit as he looked down to the page.

A conflict between who he was, and who he used to be.

This poor kid … but maybe that urge was the same change Damon was talking about.

Maybe being a pot dealer was just fundamentally different from the big money running the big drugs.

Internal sigh.

It was going to be difficult to get on campus without raising too much suspicion …

He looked at the client list again.

Maybe someone else who owed him could take care of this for him.

“Alright. I’ll get it by Friday.”

Damon shook his head.

“No. Get it by tomorrow. He’s had this debt for _weeks_. He’s just going to keep stalling if you give him an inch.”

Frank sighed wearily and crossed his arms.

Tomorrow …

Damon crossed his arms, too.

“Or don’t think you can do it, huh? Shake down a teenager?”

Frank scoffed, uncrossed his arms, and shoved Damon again.

“Get fucked. My clients still fear me. All I’d need to do is snap my fingers.”

Damon grinned devilishly.

“Then do it. Man up and show me you still got what it takes to me by right hand man.”

Frank nodded and took his client book back into his own jacket.

“Done. Tomorrow.”

Damon just grinned, grinned, grinned.

Frank tried to be the tough man he needed to be to get this shit done.

But it didn’t stop the worry that maybe the kid just didn’t have the money, and something bad would happen to him.

He hoped it didn’t come to that.

 

But he worried.

Hopefully Damon’s intuition was right.

 

\---

 

As Chloe entered the mill and slowly took in the sights, she was quietly at awe.

This place was _perfect_.

Loud music playing in the background, just the touch of smoky ambience, several rough-looking contenders in various punky getups –

It was all at once everything she both hoped and dreamed for.

“Chloe! Chlo. C. C-dog. Yoo-hoo. Over heeeeereeeeee.”

Chloe blinked and stupidly gaped her mouth as she looked over to Justin who was just by her side, grinning as stupidly.

“You look like you just saw a ghost. Don’t tell me this is your first time at the mill!”

Chloe blinked, and hesitated for a second or two –

She scoffed and just shook her head with her dopey expression becoming a playful grin.

“No, uh. Of course not. I’ve been here dozens of times. I just ---”

Chloe’s eyes quickly looked around the room ---

“--- I saw that buzzsaw over there, and I was like … woah. I don’t remember that having graffiti on it.”

Justin blinked and his eyes followed Chloe’s.

“… uh. It … it doesn’t?”

Chloe smirked and playfully shoved Justin’s shoulder.

“ _Yet_.”

Justin blinked stupidly for a second or two, then seemed to catch on.

“Ooooooohhh! Right on! Take to it maestro! Just holler if you need a distraction.”

Chloe smiled pleasantly and nodded.

“’course.”

Trevor then came up to Justin to grab at his shoulder.

“Dude come on we gotta get some spots upstairs before everyone else does.”

 Justin nodded and was easily tugged towards the stairs upstairs.

“Right! Catch’ya later Chloe! Don’t take too long.”

Chloe scoffed and put her hands into her jacket’s pockets.

The show wasn’t going to start for a while … she had time.

She stepped more into the mill and looked around some more.

The whole place really did look a bit old, but not ruinously so.

Exposed wood everywhere.

She wondered idly if termites had been chewing on this place and the whole thing might come down at some point, killing everyone in here.

Or maybe some genius with a cigarette putting it out in just the wrong place, and suddenly the whole thing burns down.

Just more thoughts she shook from her head with a scoff and a small grin.

As she made her way to the bar to order a drink, she wondered where some of the people she knew were going to be here were.

Rachel was supposed to be here, at least according to the skaters.

So was Frank, but he seemed to have completely disappeared the second he helped them in.

Whatever.

Chloe took a seat at the bar and ordered some of the cheapest beer on the menu.

Not like she had a lot of money to burn these days, and what little she did usually went to weed.

Or buying food on impulse while on weed.

She could eat an entire goddamn large pizza in one sitting if she was high enough.

The bartender came by with her beer soon enough and she took a sip with a refreshed sigh.

It seemed the bartender was even less interested in her age than the bouncer was.

There were other people at the bar Chloe noticed and observed as she put her drink down.

Some biker dudes with ugly pot beer bellies.

Some chick playing that dumb knife game with her hand.

The army of beer bottles by her and the crowd of seemingly drunk dudes around her just spelled disaster for Chloe, but it was like a train wreck sort of disaster.

She didn’t want to look away.

She did anyway, since the scene was hard to make out from the crowd.

On her other side were just empty stools.

She sighed, gently.

She was the only one drinking alone here.

Justin and Trevor weren’t really the drinking type, nor were any other loosely-associated skaters at Blackwell.

It was just one of the many ways Chloe didn’t really fit in with any one group.

How she wasn’t really understood.

Her eyes idly looked over to some merchant on the far side of the bar selling band merch.

None of her friends would care about getting band merch.

Chloe did.

If she had the fucking money for it.

Which she didn’t.

Another sigh.

At least she ---

 

“Chloe? Chloe Price? Oh my god.”

 

Chloe blinked and looked over to the source of the sound –

Holy crap –

That was –

 

“Rachel …?”

 

Rachel Amber smiled so delicately and giggled gently.

Chloe just blinked.

Rachel was, in a word, perfect.

The most popular girl at school.

Flawless grades.

Flawless looks.

Her style wasn’t really punk rock, but as Chloe’s eyes quickly checked out her outfit, Chloe had to say she knew how to look it.

This is probably the only time she’s ever seen Rachel’s beautifully-maintained hair in a beanie.

And Chloe had seen her wear her hair in so many a way.

Rachel took one of the many empty seats next to Chloe and brushed some of her hair behind her ear.

Chloe took a sip and looked at her carefully.

Rachel just smiled, smiled, smiled.

“Yeah, that’s me. I’m surprised to see a familiar face here.”

Chloe blinked.

The skaters were all here, and Rachel was vaguely associated with that group from time to time.

Did she not talk to Justin or Trevor about if they were going to come here?

How did they knew she would be here, then …?

Maybe she just missed them.

They did immediately take to going upstairs, after all.

Chloe just scoffed a bit and took another sip.

Rachel watched her drink.

“I like to be surprising.”

Rachel’s expression cracked for a second or two at what appeared to be a rebuttal, but the bartender came by to ask if she wanted a drink and she was distracted by ordering one herself.

This then, was the first thing that caught Chloe’s attention.

Rachel knew her drinks – at least her beers.

Why?

How?

In what universe did Rachel freaking Amber have to, or want to, drink?

Chloe didn’t tip it off, but she liked the drink Rachel ordered and wondered if it was blind luck that she had picked it.

She did look at her more carefully, though …

Rachel sighed pleasantly and looked back to Chloe.

“Sorry. You were saying?”

Chloe blinked.

“Nothing much. I like to be surprising.”

She took another sip and looked forward with a content sigh.

“But I wouldn’t really say me being here is all _that_ surprising.”

Rachel’s drink arrived, and she made a cutely satisfied sound as it did, taking her own first swig of satisfaction.

When she put it down,

“Really! Music shows your kind of thing?”

Chloe frowned just barely before she could help it.

What did Rachel care what Chloe liked.

Some part of her chided herself for analyzing small talk so harshly.

Rachel didn’t _really_ care, she was just killing time while she drunk and until the show started.

Chloe just sort of shrugged and sighed.

“I guess.”

Rachel hesitated a bit and needed another strong sip from her drink before she continued.

She turned to face Chloe somewhat, though Chloe’s entire body posture was still forward and slumped.

“Really. What kind of bands do you like?”

Chloe rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“C’mon Rachel, you’re ---”

She stopped herself short and just awkwardly gaped her mouth for a few seconds.

Rachel frowned.

“--- I’m … _what_?”

Chloe bit her lip and took another sip before looking over to Rachel.

She was still slumped over.

“… you’re Rachel Amber. You got like … theater … and photography … and modeling and being popular and not _music_ or ---”

Rachel frowned some more, then scoffed.

She looked over to her drink, then to Chloe, then finished her drink off in one mighty long intake.

Chloe gaped her mouth while she watched her do this, dumbstruck.

Wow.

If there was one way to show that she wasn’t the pretty popular girl everyone knew her as, slamming beers like that was certainly a good way to start.

When Rachel slammed the bottle down on the counter she looked over to Chloe, and the frown was still there.

But then it was replaced with a knowing smile.

“Try me, Price. Let’s play a game. Loser buys the winner a drink.”

Chloe felt like she was barely keeping up with this different version of Rachel that apparently existed, but she still managed a,

“I … uh. A game?”

Not to be one-upped, though, Chloe finished her drink off too, though it was decidedly less impressive with how little remained in comparison.

Rachel just smiled pleasantly.

“Right. A game. Like … open word association, but with bands instead.”

Chloe just scoffed again and gently shook her head –

Like Rachel Amber would know her music –

“Or are you too chicken?”

Chloe blinked and looked over to Rachel with a deathly look.

“Am not.”

Rachel just griiiiiiiined.

“Baaaaaaaaawk. Bawk-bawk-be- _bawk_.”

Chloe groaned and turned to face Rachel properly, crossing her arms.

Rachel returned the gesture.

“Fine. I’ll play your game.”

Rachel pushed some hair behind her ear again.

“Rad. Alright. You start.”

Chloe hesitated for a few seconds.

She could probably end this pretty quickly and efficiently –

“Bloodbath.”

“Firespawn.”

Chloe blinked.

 _What_.

How on Earth did –

Rachel giggled, but she was smiling, endeared at Chloe’s reaction.

“C’mon, you’ll have to try harder than that.”

Chloe blinked and blinked, but scoffed again.

This time, she was smiling gently herself.

“Okay, um …”

She looked down, and casually noticed more rivets in Rachel’s outfit than she saw at first –

“FIDLAR.”

Rachel hummed appreciatively.

“PUP.”

Chloe blinked again.

Rachel just smiled.

“Dilly Dally.”

“Cherry Glazerr.”

Damn.

This game was harder than she thought.

Time to pull out the big guns.

Chloe didn’t realize she was practically grinning by now.

“Touche Amore.”

Rachel hesitated.

Now it was Chloe’s turn to smirk.

“Uhhh … Hm. You Blew It?”

Chloe laughed contently and turned to face the bar again.

“They’re not even close.”

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms.

“They’re close-ish!”

Chloe just kept on laughing.

“Like screamo and emo are that close.”

Rachel considered huffing and puffing again but she saw Chloe was warming up to her, and that was worth a momentary frustration in being one-upped.

Instead, she just took a moment to recompose herself and leaned on the bar counter with an arm supporting her face, still looking at Chloe.

“Okay. I guess screamo is a weakness of mine. I’ll have to get some band recommendations from you.”

Chloe scoffed, amused, and just shook her head again.

“I guess you will … better start with Deafhaven so I know you have any taste in the genre at all.”

Rachel smiled so pleasantly.

“Noted … now. I owe you a drink.”

She called over the bartender while Chloe looked at Rachel carefully.

She seemed so different, so at ease …

Even in losing a game or getting slightly frustrated, nothing seemed to bother Rachel all that much.

And then there was all of this crap about knowing her beers, punky bands, and wanting to even go to here in the first place?

Just who was Rachel Amber, really?

There was evidently more than just the perfect skinny rich girl everyone gossiped about.

Chloe didn’t get too long to ponder things, but her eyes never left Rachel during this time.

They never stopped absorbing her warm smile or relaxed demeanor.

The second round of drinks came by soon enough and they both took their first drink at once.

Afterwards,

“My turn.”

Chloe scoffed, amused again, and turned to face Rachel once more, holding the beer in her hand.

“Alright. Hit me.”

 

Rachel smiled.

 

Before she knew what was happening, Chloe was a few rounds in this game with Rachel and perhaps one too many drinks in.

That’s when Rachel suddenly stood up with a giggle.

“Firewalk is gonna start soon … damn I want to hear them as up close as we can get.”

Chloe blinked.

“’We’?”

Rachel brushed past Chloe and turned around with a sort of poetic twirl, perhaps too graceful for the amount of drinks she had.

“Yes. _We_. You’re coming with me to the mosh pit, right?”

She placed her hand on her hip and smirked.

Chloe blinked and unconsciously looked up and down Rachel’s outfit again.

Moshing, now, too?

Jesus.

Rachel really was something else.

“Ummm …”

Rachel suddenly realized Chloe was checking her out, but that only made her smile.

Of course she earned looks.

She spent a while making sure this outfit was perfect and appropriate.

It was kind of cute, endearing when Chloe just failed to find words for a bit, anyway.

Chloe cleared her throat and shook her head quietly.

“Nah I um. Think I’m going to … pass, yeah.”

Rachel blinked.

Chloe was suddenly a totally different person, more quiet and insecure, withdrawn, and looking back to the bar, when the subject wasn’t immediately about her musical interests.

Rachel wanted so to see more of that excited girl that could ramble about music, and not the sad, standoffish Chloe everyone knew.

She wondered what other interests Chloe might have.

Was she a nerd about astrology, or theater stuff?

The thought made her smile.

Whatever.

Chloe’s addition to the mosh-pit plan was pretty last minute anyway.

This might be all Rachel was going to get out of her for tonight, and she already knew it was more than most had ever gotten out of Chloe, period.

And hey, she successfully killed all of that time without even realizing it.

Win-win.

 

“Alright. See you around, Price.”

 

Chloe nodded slowly.

“Later …”

Fuck.

Fucking – fuck.

Chloe totally chickened out and she totally hated herself for it but –

What if she fucked up, somehow?

Rachel is suddenly talking to her like that by itself wasn’t huge news – and Chloe managed to somehow impress her with her musical knowledge and like –

There’s no way Chloe wouldn’t mess this up, like she messed everything up.

It was better to just … keep Rachel at a distance.

Have Rachel believe Chloe was just this musical genius, or something.

Chloe sighed wearily.

Just like she kept Justin and Trevor at a pleasant distance, and they really only knew some vague facsimile of Chloe Price.

Whatever.

Chloe picked up her drink from the bar and made her way up to the second-floor balcony.

She could tell she was already over thinking this.

 

“That was Rachel, wasn’t it?”

 

Chloe groaned.

She barely even made it to a sitting position near Justin and Trevor and they were already looking back to her with such massive, shit-eating grins.

“What’s it to you.”

Justin looked forward and down, to the mosh pit below, and the band setting up on stage.

“She’s down there, dude. You really oughta catch some killer vibes with her.”

Chloe scoffed and shook her head.

“I’m not really the moshing type.”

As it came out, it sounded stupid and incorrect, and the incredulous looks Justin and Trevor exchanged only solidified that.

Chloe huffed.

“I’m not really the moshing type _with someone like Rachel._ There’s no way she’d really want someone like me down there.”

Justin hummed appreciatively.

“Bummer. Seemed like you two were talkin’ pretty, though.”

Chloe just shrugged and took another sip of her beer.

“She was just wasting time with me until the band was ready to go.”

Trevor looked to Justin, then back to Chloe.

“The band isn’t ready, though. They got at least ‘nother 5 minutes.”

Chloe blinked and sat herself up more properly, then stood up to look at the band.

It was true; they were still doing sound checks.

What …?

Rachel wanted to invite her to the mosh pit before things even started?

Why?

To talk some more?

Chloe got this weird, jittery feeling in her stomach all of the sudden, and she had to reach forward to rest her hand on some guard rail and grip it tightly.

“Uh … _huh_. That’s …”

Justin and Trevor exchanged looks, again.

They both grinned.

“Survey says … Rachel totally wanted to mack on her girlfriend.”

Chloe groaned loudly, closed her eyes, and shook her head.

“Oh fuck off with that, already. She’s …”

Chloe opened her eyes and froze when she saw Rachel down in the pit, looking right up at her, and beckoning unsubtly to come down.

Fuck.

Justin and Trevor snickered.

“Get down there already. No balls.”

Chloe breathed in deeply and took a mighty swig of her beer, still looking at Rachel.

Underneath her breath,

“No shit, sherlock.”

Chloe really didn’t have any excuses, anymore.

If she didn’t go down there now she’d disappoint Rachel and Justin and Trevor would _never_ shut up about this.

Fuck.

She pushed off the guard rail.

That settled it –

“Hey, _girlie_. You stole my beer.”

Some unfamiliar voice behind her.

Chloe just scoffed, and her reply came completely automatically, almost dream-like, since she was still focused on Rachel.

“I guess it’s not your beer anymore then, is it?”

Chloe suddenly felt the temperature of the room drop, though, and she blinked.

The stranger took a step or two closer.

“What did _you_ say to _me_ you little punk-ass _bitch_?”

Chloe frowned.

“I guess it’s not …”

She turned to face the intruder, and … shit.

“… your …”

Oh shit.

“… beer …”

Shit shit shit.

“… then …”

Chloe kept the fear off of her face but holy shit this dude was intimidating.

A huge monster of a man with tattoos and scars all over his face and body.

About the only thing that kept Chloe from completely freaking out is Frank was right behind him, looking at the two of them thoughtfully with his arm crossed.

Was this creep some friend of Frank’s?

Whence Chloe got sight of him her sentence just sort of awkwardly trailed off and left her mouth gaping gently.

The stranger seized the moment.

He looked at Chloe in something like disbelief for a second or two, then scoffed, cracked his neck, and grinned wide.

He took another step or two closer and pulled out his --- fucking --- knife and the goddamn thing was as big as Chloe’s arm.

Jesus.

“I think you oughta learn some respect, _girlie._ **No one** fucks with Damon, you hear that?”

What kind of arrogant prick referrs to themselves in the third person, like, Christ –

She heard Justin and Trevor quietly shuffle and stand up loosely behind her.

What she didn’t hear or notice, however, was Rachel gasping and leaving the pit as she saw someone pull a goddamn knife on Chloe.

Chloe, however, just hesitated.

She looked between --- Damon, apparently --- his knife, and Frank, and –

She could smash this bottle and try and intimidate him –

She could just try and juke him and run away –

She could appeal to Frank –

She could just try and cool things down –

But she hesitated, and did nothing, and nothing was almost always the wrong answer, but especially now.

Damon just laughed.

“That’s what I thought. You’re just a little bitch when you see how a real man acts.”

He took a step closer –

Chloe raised her arms up –

Frank groaned and placed his hand harshly on Damon’s shoulder, tugging him back.

“C’mon, man. It was just a beer.”

Damon hesitated, then frowned royally and looked back to Damon.

“It’s not _just_ a beer. That’s _disrespect_.”

Frank nodded.

“And she had no clue who you were until she looked at you. Now look at her. You got her respect.”

Damon did, still frowning, and Chloe was still sort of shell-shocked.

Damon then looked back to Frank, and the two exchanged various frowning expressions.

“You can’t just let kids walk all over you, Frank.”

Frank nodded.

“And you can’t just skin them for an honest mistake. I’ll never be able to sell weed to _anyone_ if word gets out you skinned her for stealing a beer.”

Damon hesitated some more and then groaned loudly.

He sheathed his massive knife and Chloe was finally starting to recover, lowering her hands.

Damon looked back to Chloe.

“Fine. Don’t you ever make this mistake again you hear me, girl? _No one_ fucks with Damon and lives to tell about it. **No one**.”

Dazed, Chloe just sort of nodded awkwardly,

“No one.”

This seemed to placate Damon and he turned around to go back down the stairs.

Frank looked to Chloe for a few seconds, shook his head with a sigh, then followed Damon down.

… Damn.

“Uh … wow.”

Trevor grunted.

“What’s his damage? It’s just a beer.”

Justin shook his head and shoved Trevor’s shoulder.

“Don’t you know? That’s Damon Merrick. He runs the local drug cartel around here.”

Chloe’s heart about skipped a beat.

She hastily looked back to Justin.

“He --- He _what?_ ”

Justin, smirking, looked to Chloe.

“You heard me, and you just totally gave him the Chloe Price sass. Like a badass.”

“I ---”

Before Chloe could meaningfully object, though,

“Chloe!”

She heard Rachel’s voice and good lord Chloe just barely got being overwhelmed from that confrontation from Damon and now Rachel was back –

“Uh … hi … Rachel.”

Justin and Trevor to each other and started to smirk at Chloe’s sudden and obvious awkwardness.

Rachel was frowning though, and her arms were crossed.

“I just saw someone pulling a knife on you.”

Chloe looked away and rubbed at the back of her neck.

“… did you? It was ---”

Justin scoffed and cut her off,

“--- _Damon Merrick_ just pulled a goddamn sword on her and Chloe just sassed him. No care in the world.”

Rachel blinked and gaped her mouth in obvious shock, but after a few blinks she looked to Chloe more carefully.

It was one thing to know Chloe was kind of a scrapper and got into fights with school yard bullies, but … getting into fights with dudes double her weight who were armed?

Chloe was a certifiable badass.

“Is that true …?”

Chloe finally recovered enough to lower her hands and look back to Rachel.

“Um … yeah! Yeah. Totally.”

Rachel just blinked, and blinked, and blinked –

But then she grinned and stole Chloe’s hand, tugging her down and off the second-story balcony.

“Hey! _Wait_ , where are –”

Rachel just giggled.

“— the mosh pit, dummy! You're telling me _everything_.”

Chloe really ought to object or say _something_ or Rachel was going to learn she could just walk all over Chloe and tug her along like this.

Chloe didn’t object.

Instead, she just watched Rachel’s hair as it flowed along her back while tugging her deeper and deeper into the mill.

 

Justin and Trevor watched from above and quietly made some bets. 

They ended up leaving long before Chloe and Rachel did, however.

 

It was probably one of the best nights of Chloe's life.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joyce talks to Chloe.
> 
> Chloe contemplates last night, and goes to school.
> 
> Then, everyone on the goddamn campus wants to talk to her about Rachel.
> 
> Except Skip.
> 
> Skip's cool.

Chloe woke up with a gasp as her mother knocked more aggressively on her door.

The gasp turned into a miserable groan when she looked over to her clock to see what time it was.

7:30am.

Late.

She’d only gone to bed a couple of hours ago …

“Chloe. Wake up. We need to talk.”

Chloe groaned _again_ at that idea and brought her pillow off from the bed to place it on her face tightly, as though she could hide from responsibilities and duties this way.

After a few more seconds, Joyce just sighed wearily and opened the door anyway.

Chloe groggily got up into a sitting position, shook her head a little, and ran her fingers through her hair to sort it out a little bit.

Joyce watched her do this for another few seconds further, arms crossed and face serious, but gentle.

Chloe was still dressed from last night, except her jacket was off.

She didn’t even bother to sleep under the sheets she was so dead last night.

But last night was so –

“Morning, sleepy head.”

The words kicked Chloe out of contemplation and she looked up to her mother with a slight frown.

She grunted and crossed her arms, then very slightly looked off to the side to avoid giving her mother direct eye contact.

Joyce hesitated.

Being the mother of a teenager, she was well-acquainted with such awful communication habits, but it never stopped being slightly painful to work through.

Like Chloe didn’t want to talk to her.

Like Chloe didn’t love her.

Still, she was used to it, even if it caused the barest of annoyed sighs, and she uncrossed her arms to place a hand instead on her own waist.

“I heard you coming home at 3:30.”

Chloe just grunted.

Joyce gave her some time to speak, but when Chloe just wasn’t interested, she just continued.

“Sounded like a baboon was climbing up the house.”

Chloe rolled her eyes.

Joyce smiled, barely, and scoffed with a head shake.

“You know, I almost had the fear of God in me just hearin’ that racket. Thought I’d call the police.”

Chloe looked to her mother briefly and raised one of her eyebrows in disbelief.

But soon her eyes were off her again.

Joyce hesitated, then sighed, and her smile left her.

“Then I remembered I have a daughter who doesn’t understand the importance of sleep. So I was able to calm myself down.”

Chloe grunted again.

Joyce kept giving her room to talk, in case she ever wanted to, even if she knew it was somewhat pointless.

It was basically impossible to get meaningful conversation out of Chloe.

Now, anyway.

It was so painful to watch her beautiful bright-eyed daughter become this distorted caricature.  

Like some mis-remembered version of her daughter, and not the girl she knew her to be.

But she hadn’t seen that sunny-eyed girl in a full two years, now.

Maybe she wouldn’t ever again.

The thought was difficult, but Joyce was for the most part accustomed to it and it didn’t cause her tears.

It did cause her voice to become more gentle, though.

She sighed once again.

“You know I only give you these lectures because I care about you, right?”

Chloe met her eyes for another few seconds but didn’t respond otherwise.

Joyce shook her head.

“If I didn’t care, I’d just … let you go off and do whatever. Who cares about rules or … your health or safety or well-being.”

Chloe met Joyce’s eyes again and finally offered her some words.

“Maybe you could do with caring a bit less, then. Would work fine for me.”

She smirked just barely, but broke eye contact again.

Joyce groaned and re-crossed her arms, shaking her head more viscerally.

“ _Chloe_. I’m your mother for God’s sake. There’s nothing you could do that would make me stop loving and caring about you.”

Quiet.

Joyce’s voice got softer again.

“Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

The quiet that followed was pretty awkward.

Chloe didn’t know how to fully respond.

A ‘yes’ felt too sentimental and mawkish, but a ‘no’ would certainly hurt her mother more than Chloe wanted to.

Instead, Chloe just sort of shrugged.

“Iunno.”

That was the wrong answer, though, and Joyce’s face fell significantly.

Crap.

She looked down to the floor and some of her composure broke, but she was able to recover by breaking one of her hands away and rubbing at her forehead viciously for a few seconds.

Afterwards, she breathed in deep and looked back up to Chloe.

“Well … anyway.”

Her voice was strained.

It almost sounded like she was going to cry.

Shit …

Chloe really ought to say something, but …

“I didn’t intend for this lecture to drag on. You’ve got school soon and I’m _not_ writing another note. Mr. Wells was very clear with me about your attendance, so you’re going.”

Chloe groaned and closed her eyes, looking up to her ceiling.

At least the subject had changed, and that awkward moment passed.

“So. Get to it. I have work soon, but I left you some food downstairs for breakfast and lunch. I’ll _trust_ that you can get yourself to school without my direct supervision.”

The small amounts of freedom her mother provided her Chloe did appreciate, like sometimes writing her notes for why she was absent – that were bogus – or cutting her some slack when she came home late.

And she wanted to express this, somehow …

But she did nothing, again, and nothing was the worst choice.

Joyce just sighed and shook her head once more, before turning to leave.

Chloe bit her lip.

“Wait, Mom …”

Joyce blinked and hesitated at the threshold of Chloe’s door and carefully looked behind herself.

Her expression was so warm and encouraging.

“Yes, dear?”

Chloe hesitated, too.

“I … ---“

I appreciate it.

I care for you.

I’m trying, but it feels like nothing I do matters.

I’m so alone.

I miss Max.

She had so much she could say to her mother, but the words just didn’t come.

“--- … have a good day at work.”

Joyce smiled slightly and nodded.

“Have a good day at school.”

Though this facile it wasn’t insincere and they both recognized that and somehow it still felt a little meaningful.

Either way, Joyce left Chloe’s room, and Chloe collapsed back onto her bed.

Fuuuuuuuck.

She was so goddamn drained from last night she didn’t even want to get out of bed.

She considered just skipping school, but without her mother providing any cover and Wells getting increasingly annoyed at her, that felt somewhat untenable.

Chloe didn’t even know what she could say to her mother if she managed to get expelled, after her mother worked so hard with her to get her the goddamn scholarship that was paying for everything now.

Hell, if she even just lost that, it might be too much financial burden for her to take.

All just so Chloe could skip and not really try.

She could at least … pretend.

Do the motions.

For her mother.

It was sort of the least she could do, and it at least kept her busy throughout the day.

Chloe was low on weed and had no beer or pretty much anything else to do to entertain herself.

She could fix some of that, though …

She pulled out her phone and went through her messages.

As was tradition, she checked the thread with Max and just re-read everything sent on both sides for a little bit, quietly contemplating.

By now, Chloe mostly gave up trying to talk to her.

Max was her best friend, but she just didn’t seem interested in talking, anymore.

Maybe she’d come around.

Whatever dumb thing Chloe must have done to annoyed her would become clear at some point.

Maybe one day, on one of the rereads, she’d find that thing, or get some other insight that’d convince Max to talk to her.

But … not today.

She didn’t see anything new in the conversation.

She closed it and scrolled through her other threads.

Some new messages from Justin.

_dude there’s a joint with your name on it if you can give me the skinny on you and rachel_

Chloe groaned and hid her face with her arm, with the little crevice her elbow bending created.

She wanted some more weed but she wasn’t even sure a conversation with Justin after last night would be worth it.

He _so_ wasn’t going to shut up about Rachel.

And Chloe …

She still needed time to process everything that had happened.

It felt so surreal, so magical, so unreal.

Like.

Rachel freaking Amber just appears out of nowhere, downs a beer, and challenges Chloe to a musical game?

Then she holds her own in that game, so happy and smiling and giddy the entire time?

Then, she _still_ wanted to spend even _more_ time with Chloe?

Then she _did_?

Fuck.

Rachel even bought her a Firewalk tee when Chloe off-handedly mentioned she didn’t have enough band merch.

Why?

Why did she bother at all?

Why was she so nice?

Chloe would have to think about this stuff a bit more, but she definitely wasn’t going to hash it out with Justin or Trevor.

Chloe skipped over that thread for now, but her options were kinda limited.

She really only texted a few people, and if it wasn’t either Justin or Trevor then it was pretty rare at that.

So it kind of sucked when they were being obnoxious and overbearing like that.

She did have _one_ option left, though …

Chloe started a new thread with Steph Gingrich.

Steph and Chloe weren’t friends, but Chloe certainly knew about Steph, and vice versa.

Steph was probably the only openly-gay person on campus and she was so fucking chill about it.

She had other nerd shit she was involved with, too, but saliently, she also had a reputation for burning movies for little to nothing.

Justin and Trevor, of course, wanted a copy of _The Big Lebowski._

Chloe rolled her eyes.

Her interests were more … refined.

_hey. it’s chloe price. i need to kill time today. can you get me the real cut of blade runner_

She put her phone down, not expecting ---

Her phone almost immediately vibrated.

_Good choice! Of course I can. I’ll trade ya Rachel stories for it!_

Chloe blinked.

How the fuck did Steph know anything about that?

She wasn’t at the Mill last night - Chloe was pretty sure.

She could push back a little.

_who said i have any. and also. no fair_

Again, she got a response basically instantly.

_Don’t be coy! Check Rachel’s feed. And them’s the breaks._

Rachel’s feed ..?

Oh, right, that social media garbage.

Chloe didn’t know the relevance but –

_fine whatever but i’m telling you i don’t have many maybe like one tops okay_

When Chloe left the conversation and went to go see what the hell Steph was on about, she gasped.

Rachel totally posted a selfie of the two of them looking so happy and punky and somewhat drunk, after the show had ended at the Mill and they were just … talking, outside.

And she posted this selfie for the whole goddamn world to see.

… why?

Just why?

Fuck.

She was _never_ going to hear the end of this …

Rachel was the most popular fucking girl at school.

Shit like this was going to spread like wild fire.

Even the goddamn janitors would be trying to pry gossip out of her if it was about Rachel.

Fuck.

… at the same time, though, Chloe liked the picture.

Rachel’s smile was so warm and genuine.

Chloe looked pretty happy in it, too.

Mostly because she was, somehow.

Chloe smiled a little just reliving it and saved the picture for now.

Whatever …

At least it meant she was getting free movies and weed.

With a groan, Chloe realized she ought to start her day already.

 

So she did.

She tried to put thinking about this shit too much out of her mind.

Rachel was going to go back to acting like she didn’t know Chloe, this would just be some weird one-off thing, and Justin and Trevor would eventually get the hint.

She kept looking at the photo, anyway, though.

It always made her smile a little bit.

 

\---

 

Rachel hummed contently in a sing-song manner while she closed her locker and finished putting her books in her bag.

The day was just starting.

Dana Ward, one of Rachel’s classmates, waited patiently for her to finish.

“C’mon. We’re going to be late for Mr. Keaton’s class.”

Rachel’s humming continued.

She lifted her backpack over her back and looked over to Dana.

“We have a little bit of time.”

Dana frowned and crossed her arms.

“I need to study more. I _have_ to do well in this play.”

Rachel usually found Dana’s dedication to her roles impressive, but it was awkward or annoying, at times.

Just as Rachel opened her mouth to say something, her phone vibrated, and she quickly and effortlessly pulled it out.

A text from Victoria.

Well …

It could be worse.

At least Dana was no Victoria.

_hey chloes here_

Victoria was, in no uncertain terms, the most duplicitous girl on campus.

Rachel was almost positive that she was solely responsible for the mean graffiti about Rachel on campus.

Yet here she was, doing favors and acting all chummy.

Whatever.

It was useful, for now.

Rachel didn’t trust her one iota, but she wasn’t going to turn down the helpful gossip, either.

_thx lmk when she’s going to the front doors xoxo_

Rachel put her phone away and physically shook the thoughts of Victoria out of her mind.

She smiled at Dana, who was still just standing there patiently.

Rachel extended one of her hands to gently touch and rub Dana’s shoulder and took a step or two closer.

“Girl. You’ll do fine. I promise. But you’re worrying too much. Let’s go relax in the courtyard.”

Dana’s face pitched up in some concern, but Rachel just continued to smile and brushed past her.

“ _Rachel_ …”

Dana groaned and complained, but she knew she was losing this, and as Rachel continued to walk, not even bothering to check if she was following, Dana relented and stepped after her anyway.

Maybe Rachel had a point.

“Alright, fine, whatever.”

She grumbled for a little bit, but soon tried to put the play out of her mind and uncross her arms.

That left other topics to discuss, though …

“So that photo of you and Chloe …”

Rachel just hummed thoughtfully.

“What about.”

Her words came out so easily and thoughtlessly, like it wasn’t a big freaking deal or anything.

Dana rolled her eyes.

“You two friends now or something?”

Rachel just shrugged and looked back to Dana, still grinning.

“I’m everyone’s friend.”

The _smirk_ she had with this caused Dana to just groan and shake her head.

“Oh come on. You know what I mean. Chloe’s ---”

Rachel looked forward.

“--- what?”

The slight hints of annoyance or irritation made Dana reconsider the topic or dropping it entirely.

But for Chrissakes.

“She’s … y’know. _Chloe_. All sad and weird and … punch-y.”

Rachel just repeated her thoughtful sound.

“Maybe. But maybe we only see what she wants us to.”

Sometimes, talking to Rachel was like talking to a wall.

And if she didn’t want to answer a question directly, she sure as hell wasn’t going to.

Dana decided she probably wasn’t going to get too much more out of Rachel unless she wanted to talk about this specifically with her.

Lord only knows how many people were going to bug her about it, and it’s not like they were especially close.

But Rachel was always there when Dana needed some help in drama class, and it never seemed to bother her or burden her at all.

She was always all smiles.

Dana sighed and started to put her hair in a ponytail, since they were going outside and the wind and her weren’t on speaking terms.

“Right, whatever. Just don’t get into fights with her or anything.”

Rachel scoffed, but appropriately read it as the joke it was and looked back to Dana with a brief and warm smile, amused.

“See now, I was going to go rob a bank with her, but now that you’ve said that, I’m bereft of confidence it would go over well.”

Dana and Rachel shared a giggle.

Maybe not rob a bank, but … there were certainly some fun ideas Rachel had in mind for Chloe.

It’d be nice to spend some time with someone who genuinely didn’t care about stuff, about gossiping and this and that and these and those.

And she was such a badass, too, getting a knife pulled on her and just sassing the guy in return.

All of Rachel’s classmates were too prissy and restrained for some of the impulsive things she wanted to do.

Like go to a totally dangerous place in the dead of night to see an awesome band, just because.

No one embraced _life_ and the potential it had.

All the little poetic stories just waiting to be told, and all of the breathtaking adventures just waiting to be had.

Rachel was sick of it.

People would get used to the idea of Chloe being around her.

One way or the other.

 

\---

 

Like every skateboard ride to campus, all Chloe had were her thoughts and her music.

At least she had so much music every individual ride still felt different and unique.

She put her headphones in and shuffled her collection while starting her ride down the road.

 

[[“Link in Bio” – Diet Cig]](https://open.spotify.com/track/75FxMdsN6ZwUb0A439gPfo?si=5BERv9zlTZyljJ9dW_uDtA)

This music was a bit too gentle for the rancorous night she had last night, but perfect for a kind of more contemplative morning.

She smiled and closed her eyes for a few seconds, just appreciating the sounds and lyrics.

 

Before she knew it, she was at campus.

She considered skateboarding all the way up to the front doors, but last time she did that she ended up running straight into Victoria, and she _still_ hadn’t stopped complaining about that.

Instead, she just kicked up her board with a sigh and continued walking up.

She didn’t take out her headphones or anything, even though people were around.

Her music was more interesting than them.

Once again, she closed her eyes, just sighed, and enjoyed the soundscape for a few more moments.

When she opened her eyes, though, Skip was right there.

Skip Matthews was one of the security guards here, but he was chill.

He didn’t even bother to shave, and acted like he was ten years younger than he was, or something.

Chloe had no idea how a chill dude could end up with a job like that, but maybe it was better than the alternatives.

If Skip was a huge controlling asshole, ugh.

Blackhell would suck even more, somehow.

Chloe considered stopping and having a conversation with him, but they didn’t have too much to talk about anyway.

She kept her headphones in until she was right by him and he waved her down.

With a small, but not irritated sigh, Chloe finally took out her headphones and looked over to him.

“Hey.”

Skip crossed his arms.

“Hey.”

He looked around, briefly, as if checking if people were around.

Chloe didn’t bother to imitate since she didn’t care.

Skip cleared his throat.

“Heard you saw Firewalk last night.”

Chloe blinked and suddenly grinned.

“ _Dude_ – did I – like – _ugh_!”

She put her headphones away proper and placed her skateboard on the ground so that one foot could idly push it back and forth.

“They were so awesome. I loved it.”

Skip grinned, too.

“Man, I wanted to go, but I just wish they didn’t play the Mill. Some real dangerous assholes around there.”

Chloe just shrugged.

“I’m not dead. So. Not _that_ dangerous.”

The exchange with Damon somehow didn’t enter her mind at all, since it was just a small and mostly forgettable part of her night, and certainly not any highlight personally, other than how it seemed to impress her friends.

Skip frowned, slightly.

“You’re a girl though, no one is going to pick on you.”

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes all at once, thoughtlessly crossing her arms.

Skip sighed slightly and raised his hands up to his chest in surrender.

“Hey, hey, don’t need to get all moody on me or nothing. I’m just saying. It’s different for you.”

Chloe looked off and away.

“Yeah, yeah … is that all you wanted to talk about, Skip?”

She looked back to him, and their expressions evened out.

Skip then shook his head and grinned wide.

“No, actually … My band just finished recording a new demo.”

Chloe blinked and took a step closer, forgetting about her skateboard for now.

“What? Let me hear.”

Skip grinned and grinned.

“Thought you’d be interested.”

He patted himself down before he pulled out some headphones, which he quickly offered.

Chloe uncrossed her arms to take them and place them in her ears.

As the music started, she just sighed, rolled her shoulders, and relaxed.

She lost herself in the soundscape, again, and gently nodded her head along to the groove while the song lasted.

“Yeah, oh. Yeah. I really like how the um – the bass is just like – dum, de-dum-dum-dah-dum ---”

Even though she literally couldn’t hear Skip’s responses, she just didn’t care.

She was grooving.

But the song didn’t last forever, and when it did, Skip pulled the headphones out and Chloe whined.

“What kind of demo is only one song?”

Skip laughed and put the headphones away.

“You’ll have to buy our record if you want the rest, man.”

Chloe groaned and crossed her arms again, looking away with a small huff.

This time, though, when she looked away, she didn’t see nothing.

She saw Eliot, with her skateboard, walking to her.

Chloe blinked and looked down to see that her skateboard was gone.

Shit.

She must’ve kicked it or something by accident while grooving.

Whatever.

Skip noticed where her attention went and quietly looked over to Eliot, too.

Eliot Hampden was …

Groan.

Chloe really didn’t even like thinking about him, anymore.

And it was kind of unfair on him?

Like he didn’t do anything wrong.

In fact, from his perspective, Chloe was probably the one being weird.

Since they had done quite a bit more than just talk to one another, and when things got too heated, she suddenly closes off from him.

Eliot finished walking up to Chloe and gave her back her skateboard.

“Looks like you lost this.”

Chloe quietly took it and placed it down on the ground so she could kick it up and down with her foot idly.

Then, she just sighed gently.

 “Hi, Eliot. Um. Thanks …”

Skip looked between the two and noticed immediately Chloe’s body posture, all restrained and hugging at herself with her arms crossed.

Eliot, though, was just … there. He smiled barely.

“So … are you doing anything for the Tempest? Like. You know. Right? Um. Going with someone, I mean. To the Tempest.”

Skip got a little smirk at the awkwardness dripping off their conversation, but tried to contain and not express it.

Chloe sighed long and weary again and looked away from Eliot to rub at the back of her neck.

When she had delayed for as long as she possibly could, she finally looked back to him and full-body shrugged, bringing her hands up and everything.

“Ehn. Not really. Theater … ‘s not my thing.”

Eliot nodded, seemingly unfazed by Chloe’s delay.

“Duh. I didn’t mean we gonna … watch it earnestly. I meant we’d sit in the back and --- people watch. Snipe at people.”

He looked down for a few seconds.

“You know. Like old times.”

When he looked up, he was smiling again, and shit.

 _This_ is why Chloe didn’t like thinking about Eliot.

It kept reminding her of how much of unfair bitch she was being to him, just because they hooked up and everything suddenly got weird for her.

But _only_ her.

Ugh.

And they used to be so close, too – at least, as close as Chloe let anyone get.

Eliot was probably the only one on campus who knew the full Max story, even.

Chloe sometimes wondered if Max had … really complicated, confusing relationships like this.

Though, Max having sex … Chloe just couldn’t imagine her hooking up with some dude like Eliot for some reason.

She was too awkward, and pure.

Still, Chloe sighed.

“Eliot …”

Eliot briefly raised his hands up in the same surrender motion and shrugged.

“It’s cool if you don’t want to. Just … you know. I want to.”

Chloe looked away from him with a sigh.

It really wasn’t fair on him, but Chloe just couldn’t help her feelings.

“I’ll … think about it, okay? Shit’s just really crazy for me right now and stuff.”

Eliot briefly bit his lip and knew this was basically a ‘no’ but didn’t quite know how to handle it.

What do you do when someone slowly separates themselves from you and slowly gets worse and worse and worse?

Chloe was going to get expelled at this rate – and she was such a smart, capable girl.

He couldn’t help his worry, but he just didn’t know what to do, since Chloe didn’t open to him anymore.

She was so happy for a little bit, too …

“Okay. Just let me know.”

He smiled, and Chloe did too, kind of awkwardly, but she was still trying.

“Will do.”

With that, Eliot turned and pleasantly walked off.

Skip cleared his throat, and Chloe turned to face him again.

“That’s a nice boy. You should see the Tempest with him.”

Chloe groaned painfully and turned her head to just watch Eliot walk away.

“Yeah … he is.”

Maybe Chloe ought to just get over it.

Tell Eliot that just because they hooked up, they weren’t like, boyfriend and girlfriend now.

Jeez, though, how unfair was _that_?

Maybe she could ask him for like a reset or something, to before they got hot and heavy and more serious.

Though, that conversation would totally suck and probably hurt him, and Chloe didn’t want that.

Maybe this was better.

Just give him some vague hope and a little bit here and there so they could still call each other friends.

Chloe had the vague feeling she was the asshole in this situation, but she was good at pretending to herself by now.

Even if this basically made her a different version of Max …

“But you’re not going to see it with him.”

Chloe wordlessly shook her head, and Skip scoffed.

“Typical.”

Chloe groaned and sort of shoved at Skip’s chest.

“Don’t get punched in the dick or anything.”

And her voice was plenty irritated.

Not like she was going to talk boys with Skip, anyway.

There was only one person Chloe really wanted to talk boys with, and she wasn’t talking anymore, so it was whatever.

“ _Chloe_.”

But it was whatever, and Chloe was walking towards the front doors again, putting in her headphones once more, not even bothering to say bye to him.

She spotted Steph on the way there and looked over to her sitting down on a table on the far side of the courtyard.

Once again, Chloe considered a conversation, and once again she decided against it because it would be dumb and boring.

Steph probably didn’t have her movie yet and Chloe really didn’t want to talk too much about Rachel right now since she was still processing but –

Once again, someone interrupted Chloe by waving them down.

This time, by the large statue and reflecting pool near the center.

Chloe looked over to the intruder and immediately just crossed her arms.

Victoria.

Chloe didn’t even bother to take out her headphones, since they sure as fuck were more interesting than _she_ had to say.

Victoria, stupidly, even talked for a few seconds, before realizing Chloe had headphones in and wasn’t hearing a word she was saying.

She frowned, and at least that was entertaining, which put a small smile on Chloe’s face as she continued walking past her.

Victoria’s hand was suddenly on her shoulder, though –

Turning her around –

Gripping a bit too fucking tightly –

What’s with the goddamn claws, Victoria –

Chloe groaned and realized Victoria was going to force a conversation one way or another, so better get it out of the way now.

She took out her headphones but laid them over her shoulder instead of putting them away, since she wanted this conversation over with yesterday.

She hoped the grimness of her face told that tale.

Victoria, however, just smiled so unauthentically when Chloe was listening, finally, and released her shoulder to just let her hands droop on her sides.

“Finally. Kari Price, right?”

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Chloe Price.”

Victoria laughed inoffensively, but it still registered as forced to Chloe.

“Right, right, of course, silly me. Just, you know, being as popular as I am, I have to know a _whole_ lot of names, and sometimes they just slip through the cracks.”

Victoria had this annoying way of talking where she was at once bragging and being smug while superficially being honest.

Chloe didn’t trust it.

Victoria was too smug, too pretty, too perfect, too bitchy.

It looked like she spent hours on her hair and that probably wasn’t too far from the truth.

“Funny you don’t know my name. You were so close with Marisa for a while.”

Victoria blinked and did that fake laugh again.

“Oh, Chloe, that’s ancient history. She moved away like a year ago. Water under the bridge, right?”

Like Chloe was going to forget Victoria was part of the same gaggle of bitches that made fun of her when she first started attending Blackwell.

Even if Victoria wasn’t personally responsible.

Birds of a feather and all.

Chloe just stared at Victoria to communicate this, her expression still all grim and harsh.

Victoria sighed a bit wearily after a few seconds and crossed her arms.

“Look. I just want to talk to you about Rachel, anyway. Nevermind any of that crap.”

Chloe frowned a little bit.

“And what makes you think I’ll talk to you about Rachel?”

Victoria smiled pleasantly but unauthentically again.

“Don’t be daft, dearest Chloe! I’m her **_understudy_**. If you’re going to be close to her you practically _need_ to be my friend.”

Chloe rolled her eyes but didn’t quite know how the machinations of popular girls worked.

It seemed kinda true?

Don’t popular kids all know each other?

Or was Rachel even interested in her because she wasn’t like one of them?

Questions Chloe couldn’t answer or even begin to, but she didn’t have an easy rebuttal ready for Victoria while she thought, so Victoria took it as tacit acceptance.

“ _Sooooo_ … in that case. Why don’t you tell me about last night.”

Chloe just shrugged.

“Nothing much to say past what you probably already know. We saw Firewalk together.”

Victoria hummed thoughtfully.

“Out by the mill …”

Chloe nodded, then grinned a little.

“Yeah. Where there’s lots of drug dealers ‘n shit. No place for someone like you.”

Victoria huffed and placed a hand over her heart, as though she was offended.

“Chloe! We don’t all spend our times in grungy locations. I suppose it was a good show if you bothered to hike all the way out there.”

Chloe just nodded and her posture relaxed slightly.

“Yeah, whatever. It was good. Got a fucking knife pulled on me though. Ever happened to you, Vicky?”

Victoria frowned.

“ _Victoria_. My name is Victoria.”

Chloe smiled.

“ _Victoria_.”

Victoria just shook her head.

“And no. Can’t say I’ve ever been so … careless, and reckless, to put myself in such a situation.”

Chloe frowned, slightly, and Victoria just smirked.

Whatever.

“So, that’s it.”

Victoria hummed thoughtfully again.

“Where’d you get the shirt?”

Chloe scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“You know, at concerts, there’s this thing, you might not have heard of it, it’s like – vendors will come along and sell band shit. Shirts, pants, flags, stickers, keychains, fuckin’ … dildoes. Whole nine yards.”

Victoria rolled her eyes too.

“Enthralling. Did you partake in this … _strange process_ yourself?”

Chloe just shrugged.

“Nah. Rachel bought me this shirt.”

She brought one of her hands up to pick at the fabric of her shirt and pull it away, slightly.

This was one of the artifacts Chloe used to ground herself and convince herself last night actually happened – not that the shirt was particular or special or even noteworthy except for the fact Rachel got it for her.

Victoria made a much more emphatic thoughtful sound at this and crossed her arms.

“She bought you the shirt, hmmm. _Interesting_.”

Chloe blinked and suddenly felt like she revealed something she shouldn’t have just from Victoria’s intrigued tone – particularly how it took her like five seconds to say ‘interesting’ since she was drawing it out so much.

“Did Rachel like it?”

Chloe just shrugged.

This was gossiping, she only just now realized, which she did not care for in the slightest.

“Ask her yourself.”

Victoria scoffed.

“No need to be so bitchy, Chloe. It was a simple question.”

Victoria looked so _smug_ at this and Chloe couldn’t believe her goddamn ears.

“You … _wow_ – okay – I’m done. I’m going to be late, anyway.”

Victoria shook her head.

“Like you care about that. But whatever. Far be it for me to encourage you to be an even worse student. _Au revoir._ ”

Victoria took her seat again and went back to her phone and work.

Chloe just sighed wearily and looked forward.

Just another day in paradise.

She put her headphones back into her ears and decided not to bother with Steph, right now.

Her morning was crazy enough as it was.

 

So crazy, in fact, Chloe decided to sit down on the stairs just outside the entrance of the school and just think about stuff.

The morning air was nice and calm and relaxing.

She liked the fresh air.

She slumped over and rubbed at her face with a hand.

Rachel’s little selfie with her was already having an impact on Chloe’s social life.

Like Victoria actually talking to her, and Steph wanting to know stuff about her.

At least it didn’t seem to faze Eliot?

Maybe he didn’t know, yet …

Well, whatever.

She pulled out her phone to view the selfie again and smile.

Last night was just so goddamn crazy.

It almost had this surreal quality to it, like Chloe couldn’t believe it happened.

Rachel just appears, like ---

 

Someone just appeared, next to her, by sitting themselves right down.

Chloe blinked and damn near jumped out of her skin to look over and see –

Rachel?

The fuck.

Chloe frowned before she could help it and quickly hid her phone so Rachel didn’t see what was on it.

She took out her headphones.

“Jesus. Don’t do that.”

Rachel giggled.

“If you have your headphones in all day anyone can sneak up on you, silly. It’s easy.”

Chloe shook her head, slightly, but the unreality started to kick in, again.

Here Rachel was just talking to her like they were friends, or something.

“I guess. Um. Do you … need something?”

Rachel blinked a few times at the words and wiped a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Dana groaned, and Chloe almost jumped again since she didn’t even fucking realize she was standing right behind Rachel this whole time.

“Rachel. Seriously. We’re going to be late, now.”

Rachel looked up to Dana and just smiled pleasantly.

“Don’t worry.”

She stood up and offered a hand down to Chloe, who just stared at the hand for a few seconds.

“C’mon, Chloe. Let’s go drama class.”

Both Dana and Chloe blinked.

“What?”

And their confusion came through in unison.

Rachel just smiled, though.

Chloe had this brief moment, again, where she considered backing out.

She actually had class to go to, and while she kind of didn’t care about it … Wells certainly did.

But Chloe still hated how she chickened out when Rachel wanted to go the mosh pit the first time.

Just what kind of girl was she if Rachel gave her cold feet?

No.

Fuck that.

She took Rachel’s hand, and Rachel suddenly tugged her up and past the doors with ease.

Chloe found herself being led by a slightly-too-fast Rachel again, once again forgetting her skateboard, since all she was doing was staring at Rachel’s hair as it flowed down her back and responded to the wind and her decisive moments.

 

Fuck.

 

It looked like Chloe was going to drama class.

Were they friends, now?

Is this just how Rachel treated her friends?

Dana seemed to be going along with this spiel too, at least after that initial pushback she shared with Chloe.

They were kinda friends, right?

Both popular girls, at least.

Holy crap, Chloe was hanging out with popular girls now.

Would Chloe eventually get used to … all of this?

Every time she steeled herself to tug her hand free and ask for like an explanation or something, Rachel would just look back and give her this warm, thoughtful smile.

The words just simply left Chloe’s mind whenever she stared at it, and boy did she stare, and she was pretty sure Rachel noticed she was staring, too.

Maybe it’d take a while to get used to this …

Whatever.

Skipping one class wouldn’t be that big of a deal, right …?

And if it made Rachel happy … Rachel goddamn Amber, her apparent new friend.

Whatever.

This was more interesting than whatever bullshit was going on in her morning classes, anyway.

And for once, more interesting than her headphones, too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel drags Chloe into drama class.
> 
> Things don't go as expected.
> 
> Joyce is tense.
> 
> Rachel and Chloe real talk.
> 
> Rachel overhears something she'll later wish she hadn't.

Eliot finished putting books into his locker just in time to hear a small rustle and a complaining sound that reminded him very much of Chloe.

The thought made him smile, but then blink.

Chloe shouldn’t be over at this part of campus.

Her class was on like the other side of the building.

He pulled out his phone to check the time with a frown and sighing, decided to go investigate the noise.

It was just around the corner, but he decided to peak around and observe surreptitiously instead of actively engage.

 

“Rachel, c’mon, I can’t --- I have ---”

Eliot blinked again.

Chloe, with Rachel and Dana, of all people, in front of the door to drama class.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“--- It’ll be fine Chloe, just trust me.”

What was going on here …?

Rachel just sighed and stole one of Chloe’s hands, opened the door, and pulled her into class, with Dana following shortly after.

Was Chloe Rachel’s friend, now?

Chloe didn’t really have any friends …

And friends don’t act like that to other friends.

Chloe was clearly objecting to _something_ , and Rachel just steamrolled over it.

Eliot shook his head with a sigh.

Maybe it was a one-off thing.

Rachel worked in mysterious was, sometimes.

He just hoped Chloe didn’t get too caught up in all of that.

The last thing she needed was to deal with the popular girls.

He went back to his locker to hurriedly finish stuffing his bag with new books for his next class, since he was running out of time.

Still, some part of him was quietly hopeful.

Even if Chloe somehow was Rachel’s friend, Rachel was a straight-A student.

She could be a good influence, if she wanted to be.

 

Like Eliot used to be.

 

\---

 

Chloe knew she was losing this as Rachel tugged her into drama class, but, what could she do?

Rachel seemed to be pretty incessant when she got these _ideas_ and wanted people to play long.

Even Dana seemed to just accept there was no point in arguing with Rachel, despite the absurdity of the request.

Inside the drama class, Rachel immediately let go of Chloe’s hand and walked more into the center of the room, where the teacher was talking to some of his students.

Mr … Keaton? That sounded right.

“Mr. Keaton!”

Yeah. That was right.

Mr. Keaton turned around to face Rachel and he was immediately all smiles, but he did have a visible frown after a few seconds when he noticed Chloe.

Chloe crossed her arms and sort of looked away.

Dana sighed and walked towards the rest of the students, lagging behind Rachel a bit.

“Rachel! So nice for you to make practice. Or … see it end, rather.”

Rachel just smiled and gently shook her head.

“There’s still a few minutes! I want to show you and everyone my new costume ---”

She took off her backpack and gestured with it by rising it up with one hand,

“--- my mother and I worked very hard on it all night.”

New costume?

Chloe blinked and slowly looked over to Rachel.

Rachel in a costume … Chloe kinda wanted to see that.

Duh – of course she had a costume – she was in that big play thing coming up, wasn’t she?

The Tempest thing.

Mr. Keaton smiled again and brought his hands up to gently clap them together,

“ _Ha_! Wonderful. Ms. Amber always has such a deft touch when it comes to her costumes. Go, go – change, dear. Let us see.”

Rachel nodded and turned on her heel, facing towards one of the doors that led out of this room – probably to a changing room of some kind – but hesitated.

She looked back to Mr. Keaton.

“Oh, and, don’t mind me bringing Chloe along. Her first period is homeroom and she was just dying to see some drama stuff.”

Chloe blinked.

What.

That wasn’t –

“Really!”

Mr. Keaton looked over to Chloe thoughtfully, crossed his arms, and hummed.

Chloe met his gaze.

Mr. Keaton then smiled.

“Color me surprised.”

Chloe blinked again and looked back to Rachel –

Only she was gone now, damnit.

Chloe sighed heavily, hesitated for a few seconds, and looked back to Mr. Keaton.

“Yeah, I … I guess. Rachel’s getting me into all kinds of things.”

This wasn’t even technically a lie, now.

Mr. Keaton laughed joyfully and shook his head, then turned to face the rest of his students.

“That girl. Well – go on, take a seat then. I’ll have to insist you leave before class starts, but you can watch our practice before then.”

That was a small burden off Chloe’s shoulders, at least.

She wasn’t going to miss class … just be late for it.

That probably wasn’t as big of a deal.

Mr. Keaton indicated towards some chairs on the far side of the room, but Chloe just raised her hands up by her chest in surrender and took a place leaning against one of the walls near the door leading out.

“I’m … fine.”

Mr. Keaton raised an eyebrow, but simply shrugged at this and went back to his students.

When Chloe’s eyes went to them too, she noticed a lot of them were looking at her, and some were whispering quietly amongst themselves.

Chloe sighed gently and looked down and away, bringing her hands to just tap at the wall gently in some rhythm or another.

They were probably gossiping about her.

How she didn’t belong here.

How Rachel was the only reason she was here.

Chloe didn’t really know anyone in this class.

Why was she even here?

… Rachel, obviously.

Was Chloe just going to let Rachel drag her around like this?

Even if it maybe resulted in some bad things happening to her?

The students resumed their practice, but Chloe wasn’t really paying attention.

She was too lost in her thought.

 

Eventually, she heard her name being called, and she blinked, looking up again.

“Huh?”

Mr. Keaton frowned, since it was pretty obvious Chloe wasn’t paying attention.

“I said, ‘what do you think about Dana’s line’?”

Chloe looked away and rubbed at the back of her neck sort of awkwardly.

“Uhhm … what was her line, again?”

Chloe heard some poorly-stifled laughing and giggling across the room.

Gossiping bitches.

Mr. Keaton sighed wearily and shook his head a little.

“And here I thought you were waiting with bated breath to watch us practice. _Well_ \---”

Mr. Keaton looked back to Dana, who was now standing near him with Hayden – some other dude Chloe didn’t know or care much about, who she didn’t even know was in drama class –

Chloe crossed her arms and looked to the trio.

Dana bit her lip and crossed her arms, too, before uncrossing them and meeting Chloe’s eyes.

“--- ‘My affections are then most humble; I have no ambition to seek a goodlier man’, is the line.”

Her interruption almost caught Chloe off-guard, since she expected Mr. Keaton to just move on now that Chloe had proven once again she wasn’t worth the time, effort, or energy to teach.

Still, Chloe smirked and scoffed a little.

“Sounds like ancient Shakespeare garbage. Is that even technically still English?”

Mr. Keaton sighed a bit too wearily at this, but it got some small laughs out of Dana and a few others.

“ _Yes_ , Chloe. It is still English.”

He turned to face her again.

“The manner in which the prose is written is not germane, anyway. Dana was wondering about how it pertains to love matters.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow.

“To … ‘love matters’?”

Mr. Keaton nodded.

“In context, which you would know were you paying the slightest bit of attention, Dana’s character, Miranda, hardly knows Hayden’s character, Ferdinand.”

Hayden made a thoughtful sound.

“Dude like … proposed, ‘n stuff. It’s real hardcore.”

Dana nodded and looked between the two of them,

“I think she’s in love, too. But it’s just crazy, y’know? They only just met. I don’t think love works like that. Sounds too sophomore.”

They all looked to Chloe again.

Mr. Keaton cleared his throat.

“Indeed. Thus spawns the question … what do you think, Chloe? Perhaps you would have a unique perspective on this.”

Chloe sighed and looked down again, crossing her arms.

What did she think about love, boy, what a topic they were getting into.

After her dad, her mom, Max – everyone.

She shook her head and looked up only after a few short moments of consideration.

“It’s crap. All of it. People ‘ _love_ ’ you until they don’t – when it stops being convenient for them.”

She looked off, and away,

“Doesn’t stop someone from just leaving you. So … they’re big idiots.”

Mr. Keaton made a long-drawn out sound, somewhere between thoughtful and flat.

“Not an unreasonable opinion, if a bit pessimistic.”

Still, he was satisfied, and looked back to Hayden and Dana.

Dana rolled her eyes at the dower mood and seeing Chloe looking away, decided to elbow Hayden for a little gossip.

“Sad Chloe is sad again.”

What she didn’t see, however, was Chloe immediately looking back to them, because the direction she _had_ been looking towards now had a Rachel in a costume that Chloe just felt compelled to avert her gaze from.

And she heard and saw their little exchange.

Chloe frowned.

Fuck this.

All they’ve been doing all this time is just judging her and gossiping about her – and now that she gives her opinion on something, it’s just immediately disregarded as sad girl thoughts.

She pushed off the wall, momentarily forgetting about Rachel’s presence.

“You know what? _Whatever_. Tell me I’m wrong.”

She took a few steps closer to the group.

All eyes were on her.

Chloe cracked her neck and her hands.

“That’s the whole point of a tragedy. People suffer. Life sucks. Love is dumb and pointless. Just – read something like _Romeo and Juliet_ and tell me that’s _not_ the intended message.”

Quiet.

Chloe frowned.

Mr. Keaton was at least impressed Chloe knew about that, though that was quiet a low bar to hit.

“So – sorry, if that’s just _sad Chloe being sad again_ , but – I’m done.”

She sighed wearily.

“I need to get to class, anyway.”

As Chloe started to turn around and leave, Rachel slowly worked through her shock to hurriedly take a few steps closer to her,

“Wait, Chloe --- you ---”

Mr. Keaton, however, looked at his watch and sighed, moving to gently intercept Rachel.

“--- come on, dear, she _does_ needs to get to class.”

Rachel frowned,

“But ---”

It was too late.

Chloe was already out of the room, and the door closing a bit too loudly punctuated her sentence for her.

Rachel slowly looked to the door and her expression continued to fall.

This … was not going to plan, at all.

Chloe barely even got a chance to look at her outfit.

 

As the scene settled down and Rachel accepted things had just gone … completely sideways, she settled in to the group.

Hayden looked over to Dana,

“What’s _her_ problem?”

Rachel quietly frowned.

Damn it.

Maybe she shouldn’t have expected it to be so easy to merge Chloe in with her social group, like this.

Especially with her reputation.

Still, Chloe’s little rant …

Rachel wondered what had happened to the poor girl to make her so jaded, so young.

She had to talk to her again about this.

 

\---

 

Joyce’s hand was trembling.

It’d been a while since she felt like … this.

Heavy sigh.

Regrettably, she took a hit of a cigarette, outside behind the diner she worked at, hoping it’d help to calm her nerves.

She just ---

“Joyce?”

Hurriedly, Joyce hid the cigarette like some sort of teenager hiding pot from their parents and turned to face the voice.

One of her coworkers, Cindy.

Cindy’s face was stretched and contorted into a sympathetic gaze, though Joyce’s trick in trying to hide her cigarette only landed flatly on her features.

“What are you doing? Is that a cigarette? I didn’t know you smoked.”

Joyce looked around and sighed wearily, bringing the cigarette back into view while her face looked down to the floor and her other hand came to rub forcefully at her forehead.

“I haven’t smoked for 20 years. … well, two, but 18 before that, so.”

Cindy frowned and took a few steps closer.

“Yeah, you don’t ever smell like one … what’s wrong?”

Joyce looked up to her coworker and carefully took another hit of her cigarette.

At least it did what it was supposed to do, and her shake was lessening.

When she finished and exhaled harshly, she shook her head.

“The principle of Blackwell – Mr. Wells – just called me. Chloe was late. He says he has no choice but to suspend her if she’s tardy or absent again - and he says expulsion follows shortly after and - and – and if she gets expelled, then, well, there goes the scholarship and ---”

Joyce’s voice was getting a little high-pitched and she was speaking a bit too fast, so Cindy sympathetically cooed and stepped up beside her to warmly place a hand on her shoulder and rub it.

“Hey, hey, hey – calm down.”

Joyce closed her eyes, looked up to the sky, counted to ten, then took another hit of her cigarette.

She carefully looked at Cindy.

“That’s what I’m trying to do. Just. It’s hard.”

Cindy nodded.

“I can imagine --- well, no, I can’t, but, you know.”

They shared a brief amused sound and a small smile.

Cindy removed her hand to cross her arms and look very seriously at Joyce.

“And you’ve been trying to help her?”

Joyce scoffed.

“What kind of question is that? Of course I have. I’ve done _everything._ Or … tried to, anyway.”

She looked away shamefully for a few seconds.

Despite everything, it still felt like a personal failing that Chloe just wouldn’t talk to her.

“But?”

Joyce blinked and looked back to her coworker.

“But?”

Cindy pursed her lips into a fine line.

“You’ve tried everything, but?”

Joyce sighed.

She looked to her still-lit cigarette.

“Nothing works. Chloe just … won’t listen to me. I’m not even sure she showers or brushes her teeth. I think she just takes the toothbrush and runs it under some water so I _think_ she did.”

Cindy sighed and looked down for a few seconds.

“Well, she _is_ a teenager.”

Joyce groaned.

“ _Lord above_ do I know that. Trust me, I know.”

The two had another short amused sound and smile.

Joyce’s face then got quite serious, so Cindy reciprocated.

“It’s just … not every teenager is on the verge of _ruining their life_ because of their moodiness.”

Cindy made a thoughtful sound.

“Maybe that’s because it’s not her moodiness?”

Joyce blinked.

“Huh?”

Cindy sighed and carefully uncrossed her arms.

“Joyce … it’s been _years_ since she’s had a father figure.”

Joyce frowned at this but had to acknowledge that was true.

She looked away, still.

Cindy bit her lip for a few seconds.

“You can’t just let kids grow up without one like that. It … does things to them. Children need nice strong men to teach them proper masculine values.”

Joyce sighed, still looking away from her coworker.

She took another hit, then carefully put the cigarette out and placed the stub in some part of her uniform so she could properly dispose of it later.

She then crossed her arms and carefully considered for a few seconds while Cindy just watched.

Joyce’s eyes looked down to the floor and she was talking away from Cindy, but still to her, somehow.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I can date so soon.”

Cindy hesitated.

“It’s been, what, two years?”

Joyce nodded.

Cindy hesitated, again.

“I’m not saying you _should_ have moved on, but –“

Joyce snapped to looking at Cindy,

“--- good! Because that would be – very inappropriate!”

The two went quiet.

Joyce almost never raised her voice like that.

Realizing her mistake, Joyce sighed heavily and broke a hand away to rub at her forehead again, once again not keeping eye contact.

Cindy just watched her, features heavy.

“Joyce …”

Joyce shook her head gently.

“Cindy, look, I’m sorry, you don’t deserve my anger – no one does - just – that’s, a sore wound. For the both of us.”

She looked up to Cindy.

“I can’t imagine how Chloe would react to me bringing another man home.”

Quiet.

Joyce looked down again.

“I think that might finally be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Cindy kept her silence in her consideration, wondering how much to push the issue.

She never saw Joyce so distraught and quick to anger like this – the stress of her situation with Chloe was clearly getting to her.

This really was the best choice for both Joyce and her daughter.

“Or maybe … it’s the only thing that can save your relationship with her. To bring some order and structure back into her life.”

Joyce just didn’t have an answer to that.

She turned to look away, at some part of the walls around her, though her eyes weren’t really seeing anything because her brain was too busy thinking.

Cindy hesitated, but walked up beside her all the same and placed one of her hands on Joyce’s shoulders, again.

She rubbed meaningfully.

“You deserve some peace in all of this, too. Look what worrying is doing to you. Someone else to … share the burden, is just what you need. It’s just what _she_ needs.”

Joyce hated how much she found that line of reasoning convincing.

Chloe being so cold and slowly ruining her life was _tearing_ Joyce apart.

Even if she just had a friend live in the house with her – anything would help with this stress, this feeling of failure and inadequacy.

After a few agonizing seconds, Joyce sighed, uncrossed her arms, and pulled out a picture.

She unfolded it and carefully handed it to Cindy.

Cindy recognized it as an older picture with the once-happy Price family, including Joyce’s husband.

Joyce sighed.

“That’s the last time I knew my daughter. I would do _anything_ … to go back to then. To keep him out of that crash.”

Quiet.

“Even if the good lord took me, instead of him.”

Cindy smiled, sadly.

She always liked hearing Joyce talk about her husband, even if the subject was a little morbid sometimes.

Joyce always got this small smile on her face, and her eyes always glazed over in this particular thousand-yard way.

Cindy always imagined she was remembering better times, almost prelapsarian in nature, maybe.

But she did have a point in all of this.

“Did William ever have rules for Chloe?”

Joyce laughed, gently.

“Of course he did. She wasn’t allowed to swear, obviously, but you know Chloe, so … she still did. We just took a dollar out of her allowance every time. It was for …”

Joyce scoffed at this, as if now disbelieving it,

“… her college tuition.”

Cindy hummed thoughtfully, looking at the picture still.

“Do you keep that rule up still?”

Joyce closed her eyes and sighed with a small head shake.

“No …”

Cindy placed the photograph back in one of Joyce’s hands and curled her hand to make sure she was holding it.

“William is gone, Joyce. I’m so, _so_ sorry, but … Chloe needs you. You need someone. You both need structure like that, again.”

Joyce looked down to her hand with the photograph in it.

“I don’t know …”

Cindy nodded, slowly, and released Joyce’s hand to take out her work pad and a pen.

She started writing something down.

“I know you don’t. Just give it a chance.”

Joyce eyed the writing carefully.

After a few seconds, Cindy tore off the page and handed it to Joyce, putting her pen and such away.

Joyce took it with her free hand and looked down at the piece of paper.

 _David_.

“David and I go way, way back. If there’s anyone who can restore some order to a household and help you blow off some steam, he’s your man.”

Joyce hummed thoughtfully and rubbed her thumb over the piece of paper.

_David._

She looked over to Cindy.

“You’re sure about this?”

Cindy crossed her arms.

“It’s about the only thing you _haven’t_ tried, isn’t it?”

Joyce looked back to the piece of paper.

 

“Yeah …”

 

_David._

 

\---

 

Chloe opened her front door and was quite surprised to find Rachel on the other side of it.

She almost closed it right then and there, since she knew what Rachel wanted to talk about, and just, ugh.

But …

Instead, Chloe just crossed her arms, and sighed.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, Chloe all serious, Rachel just smiling gently, as she always did.

Eventually, Chloe spoke first.

“Here to bitch at me for being moody to your friends?”

Rachel sighed so wearily, and it was a kind of sigh that consumed her entire body, shoulders and all, while she gently shook her head and closed her eyes.

“ _Chloe._ ”

Chloe frowned, slightly.

Rachel opened her eyes again, and at least her expression was appropriately serious for this conversation, now.

“No. I just – that’s _not_ how I wanted things to happen. And then you – storm off campus right as school ends –“

Chloe frowned more deeply.

“I didn’t _storm_ off. Skip escorted me to the principal’s office where the jackass gave me another responsibility and respect lecture and then I got _sent_ home.”

Rachel’s eyes looked down.

“… oh. Because of you being late to class?”

Chloe shrugged.

“Dunno. I guess. Wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying.”

Rachel laughed so gently at this, and looked back up to Chloe, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

“That’s gonna get you kicked out, some day.”

Chloe just shrugged again, but her expression was lighter at hearing Rachel’s endeared tone.

“Maybe. Doesn’t matter to me. ---”

This was actually a bit of a lie, but –

“--- sure it does.”

Chloe blinked.

“… what?”

Rachel bit her lip and hesitated.

“If school didn’t matter to you at all, then you wouldn’t even go. There’s gotta be some reason you keep turning up.”

Damn.

Chloe just kind of shrugged at this and looked off and away.

Rachel just completely saw through her like it was nothing – but maybe that wasn’t too impressive.

Her logic was pretty simple, after all.

Chloe eventually looked back to Rachel with a sigh.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I try not to care, but …”

Rachel smiled, gently.

“… but you do.”

Chloe uncrossed her arms and softly sighed, shaking her head with some closed eyes for a few seconds.

“What’s it to you, anyway? How’d you even find out where I live? Like …”

She opened her eyes.

It’s not like Chloe told a lot of people on campus where she lived.

Rachel smiled a bit wider.

“I have my ways. Don’t worry. But never mind all of that stuff –“

She took a step closer to Chloe.

“—I just want to talk. In your room. Can we?”

Chloe blinked.

Now that Rachel was closer, she could smell a pleasant perfume.

It was pretty relaxing.

“Uhm. I don’t think you’re going to like my room.”

Rachel giggled and gently wormed her way past Chloe, into her house.

“Don’t be silly.”

Chloe groaned at this, looking up to the ceiling briefly.

“ _Yes_ , Rachel, _please come in_ , Rachel.”

Chloe’s voice was so flat and unamused, though.

Rachel giggled again.

“You’re funny.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and closed the door.

She turned around to face Rachel and crossed her arms again.

“I’m here all week.”

Still flat.

Rachel still giggled.

Why?

It wasn’t that funny.

Rachel inquisitively took a few steps further into Chloe’s house and hummed at some of the decorations, observing them carefully.

She had this adorable thing of placing both of her hands right behind her back, one clasping the other’s wrist, and kind of barely leaning towards what she was observing.

Like she was at an art gallery, or something.

“Where’s your room?”

Chloe shrugged, quietly observing Rachel’s observing.

“Upstairs.”

Rachel suddenly stood up straight and made a bee-line for the stairs, quickly working her way up it.

Chloe just watched her with a few blinks.

Rachel paused halfway up and looked back to Chloe.

She hesitated when Chloe just stared at her.

“Aren’t you coming up?”

Chloe hesitated for a few seconds, then sighed and uncrossed her arms.

“Guess so.”

As they made their way up in relative silence to Chloe’s room, Chloe didn’t really know what to make of Rachel.

Obviously, Chloe didn’t get along very well with her friends, but with Rachel herself …

It seemed impossible to _not_ get along with her.

She was so carefree, yet thoughtful when she needed to be, and seemingly knew how to turn around even an awful conversation to something more positive and uplifting.

 

Rachel pointedly waited outside of the door Chloe indicated was hers until she was let in, this time.

Chloe didn’t know when she suddenly started caring about not just tugging Chloe along everywhere, but the change of pace was nice.

Chloe opened the door to her room and lazily walked into the center of it, and then sat her ass down with a bit too much force on the edge of her bed, causing it to groan.

She spread out her arms wide on either side of her body, as if presenting, while Rachel gasped and quietly walked into the room herself.

She barely had the presence of mind to close the door behind her.

“Woah.”

This reaction Chloe liked.

It felt like for once, Chloe was the one catching _Rachel_ off-guard.

Rachel just had this distant look on her face while she looked all around Chloe’s room.

The piles of clothes.

The graffiti.

The half-naked pictures of women.

The general disarray of her room.

Even an empty beer bottle, or two.

Somehow, this room perfectly represented Chloe – it was just the right mix of careless and thoughtless and purposefully expressful.

Some of the graffiti around the room was just simply _inspired_.

Like Chloe spent hours on it, or something.

Chloe quietly allowed Rachel to just observe the room in her awe as she started to make her way around it.

This time, Rachel’s hands weren’t behind her, they were reaching out to touch stuff, but she stopped shy of things as she moved around.

“This room suits you …”

Chloe laughed.

“I’ve had … years, to make it my own. I would hope it would.”

Years sounded right.

Some of the stuff in Chloe’s room looked positively ancient – at least a couple years old.

Off in one of the corners she even spotted a tape recorder.

People still had those?

Woah.

Rachel went right for it to observe, and unlike the other things in Chloe’s room, she touched this one, to pick it up and feel some of the dust and age present, but –

“Hey, don’t ---!”

Rachel blinked.

Chloe was _fast_ when she wanted to be –

Before she even know what was happening Chloe was right behind her, _tearing_ the tape recorder out of her hands and tightly holding it against herself –

“--- sorry, sorry.”

Rachel turned to face Chloe and automatically raised her hands up by her chest, palms exposed, as if in surrender.

“I – should have asked permission to touch, I’m – sorry, sorry –“

Chloe was completely gone, though, just looking down at the tape recorder grimly.

She was totally unresponsive.

After a few seconds, Rachel blinked and brought her hands down.

“… Chloe?”

Chloe’s shoulders raised as she breathed in a heavy sigh and let it out gently.

Then, she frowned, and turned to face her bed, tossing the tape recorder onto it harshly and just as harshly crossing her arms.

Rachel blinked, but tentatively came up behind her.

Chloe looked behind her to see Rachel, and just sighed again.

“It’s not you.”

Rachel blinked.

“Uh, what?”

Chloe huffed and looked forward.

“It’s not your fault. I’m just being fucking sentimental again. It’ll pass.”

Rachel bit her lip.

The way Chloe was talking about it, it’s like she was _blaming_ _herself_ for feeling attached to these things, like she shouldn’t be.

That couldn’t be healthy.

Rachel sighed and walked past Chloe, to her bed, which of course wasn’t even made, and sat down at the edge of it.

She reached behind herself to bring the tape recorder to the edge of the bed with her, then meaningfully padded on the bed on the other side of it, looking up to Chloe.

Chloe understood the gesture, uncrossing her arms with a bit too much force and sitting down similarly.

The bed croaked again.

Rachel’s hands left the tape recorder as Chloe’s touched it, and they both just sat on the edge of the bed, their legs dangling off, both taking quick, fruitive looks at the tape recorder, but mostly looking at the floor underneath them.

It felt like an hour was spent before anyone said anything.

But Rachel eventually broke the silence.

“You wanna tell me about it?”

Chloe tapped her fingers against the tape recorder and swayed her feet back and forth until they gently collided with each other in an equally soft tapping sound.

“I mean … not really. It’s just some – dumb, old stuff. I should be over it by now.”

There it was again.

Chloe blaming herself for feeling emotions.

It cut a little into Rachel every time she heard Chloe do it, because she knew that wasn’t really Chloe.

Chloe was the most genuine person she’d ever met.

This was learned behavior.

Probably from her parents, or maybe the school …

Rachel moved one of her hands onto the tape recorder, close to Chloe’s, but not touching.

“Your emotions aren’t _dumb_ , Chloe. They make you who you are.”

Chloe just scoffed.

“Great. That’s just great. Then I really am Sad Chloe.”

Rachel sighed a bit too wearily at this.

She kind of expected Chloe to not care about the rumors and gossip about her, but maybe no one really was above that kind of stuff.

“Maybe. But that’s not necessarily a _bad thing_ , if you have things to be sad about.”

Chloe blinked and hummed thoughtfully at this.

It was certainly a long fucking time since anyone had told her she was allowed to be sad or moody.

One of Rachel’s hands suddenly found one of Chloe’s, and she gasped a little at the touch, jumping away  –

“-- Sorry! Sorry. I did the thing again. Um. Not asking, I mean ...”

Chloe blinked, but feeling that small bit of awkwardness from Rachel was weirdly humanizing, and it made her smile just a bit.

“It’s fine … just surprised me, is all.”

Chloe put the hand back on the tape recorder, and Rachel gently took the hand again.

Chloe didn’t jump, this time, and she appreciated feeling Rachel’s fingers just gently playing with that hand.

She closed her eyes and relaxed a little.

Rachel did, too.

They just enjoyed the moment for a few seconds.

Once again, Rachel broke the silence, and her voice was so gentle.

“Tell me about the tape recorder, Chloe. I want to know.”

Chloe sighed a bit and fell onto her back, on the bed.

Rachel imitated the gesture, albeit more carefully, since Chloe’s movements were once again so harsh that the bed complained.

Their eyes were still closed as Chloe brought the tape recorder up to her chest.

It was quiet for a while as Chloe collected her thoughts.

She too, spoke so gently.

“Um … alright, but, like, no gossiping. This stuff’s private …”

Rachel nodded slowly and made a gesture with her hand to indicate her lips were sealed, but then realized neither could see it.

“Absolutely. You can trust me with anything, Chloe.”

Chloe somehow kind of believed it.

She ran her fingers gently along the tape recorder, just thinking.

“So … couple years ago, I have this friend, right?”

Rachel nodded.

Chloe sighed.

“She was … my best friend. My closest friend. We were …”

Chloe scoffed a little, amusing herself,

“… we were gonna conquer the world together, some day.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

“What happened?”

Chloe gently shook her head.

“One day, she just … leaves me. Barely even talks to me anymore. We were friends for our entire childhood and – like – all I have left of her, now, is this.”

Rachel kept her silence.

It made sense why Chloe was so protective of it …

But not why she blamed herself for it.

“Oh. Can I … can I hear it?”

Chloe sighed wearily.

“No … it doesn’t even work anymore.”

Rachel blinked.

“You kept a broken tape recorder just because it reminds you of her?”

Chloe groaned painfully.

“I know, I know, I know – it’s so –“

Rachel suddenly turned on the bed to face Chloe.

Chloe blinked but felt the weight shift around and opened her eyes to look at Rachel, and just –

Rachel, on her bed, smiling so warmly, with her hair just kind of barely obstructing her face, and her looking so relaxed and unguarded now that she was in the privacy of someone else’s room –

The words kinda left Chloe, and she just stared.

Rachel smiled, smiled, smiled.

“It’s beautiful, Chloe.”

Chloe blinked, and for some reason, blushed.

Her eyes looked away.

“B-beautiful?”

Rachel kept smiling and nodded again, sighing so wistfully.

“Beautiful.”

The word came out with the sigh.

Rachel turned to lay on her back again and brought her hands up to her own belly.

“She obviously meant a lot to you. She left her mark, forever, on you, because of that … special connection you had with her.”

Chloe blinked at this perspective, since it was quite different from how most people talked about this stuff, and how she still hadn’t gotten over Max.

It took her a few seconds of starting to piece her thoughts together well enough to articulate anything, though.

“Um. … I mean, … yeah. She meant a lot to me. I could tell her – anything. She was so shy and reserved that I, well, spoke for her a lot, too. We were just … in sync.”

Rachel closed her eyes and sighed dreamily.

“Two parts of one soul.”

Chloe looked at Rachel very carefully.

She _liked_ that Chloe couldn’t get over Max?

Rachel noticed that Chloe was staring, so with the barest of frowns, looked over to her.

“I want to be like your tape recorder friend to someone. To mean that much to them that they _never_ forget about me. Wherever I go, whatever I do … I want to mean things like that, Chloe.”

This finally helped Chloe connect the dots, since they were more-or-less spelled out for her, now.

Rachel liked Chloe not being over Max because it meant Max meant a lot to Chloe.

This was … definitely not what Chloe was expecting this conversation to end up being like.

“… poetic.”

Rachel smirked and scoffed a little.

“ _Romantic._ ”

Romantic …

“Yeah …”

Rachel suddenly smirked wider and turned on the bed to face Chloe, again

“Tell me about her. Aaaaaaaaalll of the little juicy details. I wanna know _everything_ , Chloe.”

Chloe scoffed, but turned on the bed to face Rachel, too, putting the tape recorder between them.

 

“Well … she’s such a fucking dork. But like. In a cute, endearing way.”

Rachel smiled.

So did Chloe.

 

\---

 

“Rachel, sweetie, time for dinner!”

Rachel smiled and eagerly left her room to plod down the stairs and walk into the kitchen, where her mother was calling for her.

Sort of automatically her mother got a little hug when they got close, and after separating, Rachel looked around the kitchen at what was being made.

“It smells delicious.”

Rachel’s mother, an unassuming but kind woman named Rose, just smiled, as her daughter often did.

“Thank you, dear. Do you mind going and fetching your father while I finish up? He’s outback. I think talking with one of his college friends on the phone.”

That was somewhat unusual – usually her father was inside, reading the newspaper, or some book, or gently working on a glass of wine.

Their backyard was mostly for entertaining guests.

But whatever.

Rachel didn’t think too much of it, assuming he just wanted a little bit of privacy in a conversation with an old friend.

She smiled and nodded.

“Of course.”

Rachel quietly left the kitchen and gently closed the sliding glass door leading out to their backyard.

A sort of ostentatious thing, large, well-maintained.

The pride of it was a small maze constructed of bushes, carefully maintained by her father, as everything else in the yard was.

Rachel knew her way along it so well now, but it acted like a sort of barrier between the house and the other side of the maze.

Isolating, in a sense, to walk further and further from the house, and soon only hear the gentle crickets outside and the sound of grass being compressed between feet.

Rachel stopped shy of the exit when she heard her father, though, not wanting to interrupt his conversation.

“--- _No_. That’s _not_ what the judge ordered. You are _not_ coming back.”

Rachel blinked.

Her father sounded … different.

Angry, almost, but definitely not like she normally knew him.

Her father was a calm man, almost stoically so, even in the worst of times.

Rachel furtively hugged one of the walls of the maze and continued to listen in.

“I _don’t_ care. You’re not coming within 100 miles of my daughter. I didn’t work my kiester off my entire life just to have you coming back and ruining everything again, like you did the first time.”

What …?

His daughter …?

He was talking about her …?

Her father sighed wearily, after a few seconds.

“… maybe I can arrange that. I don’t know. It’s been so long …”

He didn’t sound angry anymore, just sort of tired and distant.

Rachel crossed her arms and just looked down at the grass.

What on earth was going on …?

Her father _never_ kept secrets from her.

 _Never_.

And Rachel _never_ kept anything from him, either.

Yet here was, talking about something directly involving her, and a judge, and – someone ruining his life? –

And Rachel knew nothing about what he was talking about.

“Fine. I’ll talk to you later, I suppose.”

She heard her father go quiet as he presumably hung up the phone.

Rachel shook her head.

She waited a few seconds so he wouldn’t think she heard anything and crossed the threshold of the exit, walking over to her father, sitting on some bench along the walls of the maze.

Rachel put on her mask of a happy daughter, despite her confusion and worry, and her father smiled at seeing her, too.

“Oh, hi, honey. Dinner’s ready, I guess?”

Rachel just nodded and smiled.

“Yup. Mom sent me to get you.”

Her father sighed happily, stood up, and walked over to Rachel.

“Sounds wonderful. Let’s go.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and they walked back to the house.

All throughout the short trip through the maze, though, Rachel was thinking.

Was her father keeping something from her?

… no.

Probably not?

Maybe she just misheard things.

Maybe she was reading too much into it.

Maybe he was going to bring it up, whatever it was, soon, and just wanted some time to have these conversations with that person, in private.

Rachel trusted her father like nothing else in the world.

He wasn’t, he couldn’t, be keeping anything from her.

Eventually, she smiled, and leaned into her father as his hand gently stroked at her opposite shoulder.

This was probably nothing.

 

Later, over dinner, Rachel told her parents about making a new friend, which was hardly even a story to them, but they always seemed interested in the ins and outs of her life.

She told her mother about how happy Mr. Keaton was about the modifications to the suit and the extra level of _depth_ they would bring to her performance.

It was a nice family dinner.

Rachel mostly forgot about the heated exchange her father had in the backyard.

It was probably nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steph offers some help.
> 
> Nathan is missing.
> 
> Drew makes a mistake.
> 
> Chloe blushes.
> 
> Rachel gets frustrated.
> 
> Drew makes another mistake.

Chloe stood outside Steph’s door and just kind of stared at it for a while.

She wanted that movie Steph had made for her, but … certainly not the DVD extra of a Rachel conversation that she didn’t ask for.

At least, now, Chloe felt a little bit more comfortable with what Rachel was to her.

Maybe she wasn’t a one-off kind of thing, and she cared enough to try and calm Chloe down after her plans backfired stupendously.

Chloe said some stuff yesterday she hadn’t told anyone in quite some time.

Not since …

Ugh.

Chloe crossed her arms, shook her head, sighed, and knocked on the door.

No point thinking about that.

Chloe could handle _one_ awful conversation about Rachel, probably.

Steph opened the door shortly, and she looked up to Chloe, as most girls do, for a few seconds, quietly blinking.

Chloe just stared back in silence.

For a little bit, at least.

“Blade runner?”

Steph blinked some more, but then smiled gently and nodded.

She opened her door wide and crossed her arms in return, leaning to rest slightly on the door frame.

“Sure. But the deal’s the same. Tell me about Rachel.”

Chloe just groaned and looked up and to the side, not quite rolling her eyes but certainly showing some exasperation before she just uncrossed her arms and gently pushed Steph back a bit.

“Fine, fine. Whatever.”

Steph giggled a little and retreated back into her room.

Chloe shook her head and followed after her, harshly closing the door behind her.

“Movie first, I ---”

When Chloe turned around from closing the door to face the inside of the room, she realized it wasn’t just Steph in here.

A scrawny-looking nerd sitting down across some tabletop game on the far side of the room neatly complimented the rest of the nerdy room, what with its posters and books and all.

He noticed Chloe, too, at about the same time, and looked up to her through his awkwardly-large glasses.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, blinking and analyzing.

Then Steph came in front of Chloe, holding a little paper sleeve with a DVD inserted inside.

She waggled it.

“--- sure.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow when she looked over to Steph.

Steph just smiled.

Chloe looked between Steph and the other nerd, then quietly took the DVD and put it into her back pocket, re-crossing her arms.

“Who’s that?”

Steph followed Chloe’s eyes and shrugged.

“Mikey. Y’know Drew? Big football star? That’s his little brother.”

Chloe sighed a bit too wearily.

Boy did she know Drew.

“… yeah. Yeah I know ‘em. Didn’t know he had a little brother, though …”

Mikey shook his head slightly and looked down to the game again.

“I don’t think he wants people like you _to_ know.”

Steph blinked.

“Ooooh. Sparks. I wasn’t expecting that.”

She herself looked to Mikey and Chloe and back again.

“Story time?”

Chloe and Mikey just shrugged in near unison.

Steph easily sat herself down on her bed, which was just above where Mikey was sitting down and playing his game.

Chloe remained as she usually did, near the exit, with her arms carelessly crossed.

She spoke first.

“Not much to say. Drew’s a bully. I don’t like bullies.”

Mikey sighed a bit wearily.

“He’s not just a bully …”

Chloe just frowned.

Steph shook her head a little and sighed herself.

“Well … never mind, I guess. It’s probably not important, anyway. Mikey just likes playing with my games.”

Mikey nodded.

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Nerds.”

Mikey huffed, but Steph giggled a little and nodded.

“You betcha. And now you’re going to tell this nerd everything there is to know about Rachel.”

It was … something, how Steph just didn’t seem to care about being called a nerd, how she so totally owned it.

Like, of course she was a nerd, she was Steph, got a problem?

Chloe respected that self-awareness and openness.

And it wasn’t the only thing she was open about, either …

Chloe uncrossed her arms and made her way more into the room.

She only vaguely recognized most of the decorations in the room, like the various posters plastered all over the walls, the little figurines and books and random pages Steph just had everywhere.

The ratio of fake little dragons in this room was unusually high.

Chloe looked to Steph.

“I’m not like … a Rachel expert, or anything. She just hangs out with me, sometimes.”

Steph nodded easily.

“Yeah, _duh_ , only you’re not like all of the others she hangs out with.”

Chloe blinked.

“So?”

Steph rolled her eyes and clasped her hands together above her lap while she leaned forward slightly,

“So – you have a better chance of actually telling me anything.”

Mikey grumbled.

“Popular kids don’t like talking to ‘nerds’.”

Steph hummed thoughtfully, looking down to Mikey momentarily.

“And the feeling is mutual.”

She then looked up to Chloe and smiled.

“So, spill it.”

While the purpose of that exchange was to simply make Chloe comfortable talking about Rachel, Chloe knew, it accidentally gave her a bit more insight into _why_ Rachel might be interested in being her friend.

Chloe certainly wasn’t like any of her friends in drama class …

But that only raised the question of why Rachel thought Chloe would get along with them.

Did she somehow not see the obvious, gaping problem with that?

Chloe sighed and looked down to Mikey, who was just scribbling some things on a piece of paper, before looking up to Steph.

“I mean … what’s to say about Rachel you don’t already know? She’s gorgeous and popular. Everyone wants to know her and be her friend.”

Steph hummed thoughtfully.

“And yet … she goes out to the Mill, of all places, and ends up with you there, somehow. That doesn’t quite jive.”

Chloe nodded herself, since she’d already went through that phase in understanding Rachel.

“Yeah, like – okay. That’s not _all_ there is to her. She’s also really carefree, and – she knows her music and beer _really well_ and – I _swear_ if she wanted to pull off some random outfit she totally could and – she’s so kind and caring sometimes and -“

Steph’s eyes widened a bit when she realized Chloe was rambling, and the three of them realized this fact at about the same time.

Mikey looked up to Chloe, and Chloe just let her mouth gaping like an idiot, quietly blushing for a second or two.

Steph giggled.

“Sounds like someone has a crush.”

Chloe groaned so painfully, still blushing, and crossed her arms, looking off to one of the many nerd items in Steph’s room.

“ _Ugh_ , not you too. It’s _not_ a --- _whatever_.”

Chloe realized she didn’t want to argue about not crushing on Rachel, so she looked back to Steph and tried to even out her expression,

“There’s more to Rachel than meets the eye.”

Steph just smiled, smiled, smiled.

“Okay. You don’t have a crush on Rachel. Does she have any like, favorite movies or stuff?”

Chloe was more than appreciative of Steph letting the subject go, though the way she was grinning like a goddamn imp made her think she didn’t believe one word of it.

And fuck, Steph was gay as hell too, she would probably know if anyone would, wouldn’t she?

Ugh, no. She was probably just seeing it where it didn’t exist, since that’s all she knew, anyway.

Chloe decided to forcefully pull her mind away from thinking about this for one more second by focusing on the new question.

“’Unno about movies or junk, but she doesn’t limit herself when it comes to music. She listens to _everything_ , at least once. I think her library is as big as mine …”

Steph absorbed the information with another thoughtful sound.

“You haven’t talked movies or anything?”

Chloe just shrugged.

“No. Just music and ---”

Max.

Chloe frowned a little and looked off to Mikey playing with the tabletop game.

In some way, he reminded Chloe a lot of Max, especially the way he was so focusing on the little piece of paper he was scribbling on he didn’t even seem present in the conversation.

Just like what Max would do, sometimes …

Steph blinked.

She watched Chloe almost violently shut herself up and get visibly annoyed, then look off to Mikey and get more content, even smiling a little.

That was … odd.

Should she push Chloe on that?

Or just let her have her moment?

There were certainly rumors that Chloe could get like this, sometimes; she was supposed to be the moodiest girl on campus.

Still …

“Chloooeeeee. Earth to Chlooeeeee.”

Chloe finally recovered and looked back to Steph, evening out her expression some more.

“Just, we just – we only talked about music, and, um, her past in California. How she left some of her friends behind.”

Steph blinked.

That was new.

Rachel _certainly_ didn’t let gossip like that get around.

“She’s from California?”

Chloe shrugged.

“Long beach. Lived there for most of her life, but her dad wanted to start somewhere more … modest, I guess.”

Steph laughed gently and shook her head a little.

“I dunno if I’d call Arcadia Bay _modest_ , but … yeah, I can see that.”

Chloe smirked and chuckled herself, looking away briefly, back to Mikey.

Steph followed her eyes for a second or two, then cleared her throat.

“What’s this about leaving her friends behind?”

Chloe looked back to Steph and just hesitated.

“Uhhh. I probably … shouldn’t have said that. Can you just ---”

Steph raised her hands up in surrender by her chest and just smiled.

“--- relax. I’m not a huge gossiper.”

Mikey looked up from his game and paper to look at Chloe.

“She’s just going to use this to hit on her, anyway.”

Steph groaned and shot a dirty look over to him.

“Mikey! You’re killin’ me, Smalls.”

Mikey just shrugged and went back to his scribbling.

Chloe watched the exchange, slightly amused, but after a second or two too late, the implications came to her in waves.

Steph … hitting … on … Rachel.

Like.

Gayly.

To date her.

Chloe looked from Mikey to Steph and her expression was long and distant.

Steph eventually looked back to Chloe, but surprisingly didn’t seem that embarrassed from this information being revealed – no blush or anything, and her posture read as relaxed as before.

Of course, why would she care if it was revealed she was digging for information to hit on a girl?

Steph was gay and didn’t care if anyone thought poorly of that.

“He’s right, though – so - You don’t have to worry about me gossiping. Since it’s just to woo the pretty lady.”

Chloe worked through her shock and kind of laughed a bit awkwardly, breaking one of her hands away to rub at the back of her own neck and look away for a few seconds.

“Right, right. You um. Play for the other team.”

Steph raised an eyebrow at this.

“I mean, if you’re going to call me a nerd to my face, might as well say ‘lesbian’ too. It’s not a dirty word.”

Chloe looked away briefly, again.

Steph grinned.

“Unless you’re scared to.”

Chloe scoffed dangerously and re-crossed her arms to give Steph a dirty look herself.

“ _No_. I’m not scared of nothin’. But, anyway …”

This was another topic Chloe didn’t really want to beleaguer and she calmed her expression down to even it out.

“… yeah, I mean. Stuff just happens for her, I guess. Her dad didn’t give her a lot of warning, and it’s just like, y’know. Different if you can’t see your friends face-to-face, I guess.”

Personally, it was interesting for Chloe to get the perspective on the other side of the fence, from someone who had left their friends.

It didn’t, like, make her okay with what Max had done, but it helped.

Little bit by little bit.

She felt a bit less pathetic about wanting Max to still talk to her with the perspective that Rachel still wanted to talk to her friends, just … things happened.

Steph hummed some more.

 

“Well that sucks. Hope she stays in touch. Bummer to lose friends that way.”

 

… fuck.

Chloe sighed.

She felt _a little_ bit better with Rachel’s talk, not a lot, and Steph’s line of reasoning was not helping at all.

Chloe was so done with this conversation.

“Yeah. Whatever.”

She tapped her fingers on her arms impatiently and looked away, again.

Steph blinked, but could take a hint well enough.

“Well … thanks, Chloe.”

Chloe shrugged and looked back to Steph, uncrossing her arms to just place her hands in her jeans pockets instead.

“Yeah. You want anything else?”

Steph shook her head pleasantly.

“No. I think I got enough to work with – for now.”

She smirked a little.

Chloe rolled her eyes and turned around to leave Steph’s room, still without having moved that far into it in the first place.

Halfway to Steph’s door, though –

“Hey.”

Chloe blinked and looked back to Steph.

“… yeah?”

Steph lost her grin to just smile genuinely, instead.

“If you ever wanna talk about Rachel … for _whatever_ reason, and I mean … _whatever_ , promise I’ll listen, okay?”

Chloe blinked.

Why was she offering that?

It’s not like Chloe _wanted_ to talk to her about Rachel.

She hesitated.

“Um, like … for what?”

Steph sighed gently, shook her head with her eyes closed for a few seconds, then just opened them again to look at Chloe once more.

“No reason. Just keep it in the ‘ol noggin. Little factoid you can call upon. Y’know.”

Chloe shrugged again.

Whatever.

Maybe that’s what it meant to have friends.

Just people to talk to about stuff.

Did that mean Steph was her friend now?

After they had one conversation?

Chloe supposed she bonded pretty fast with Rachel …

Ugh, whatever.

Chloe shook her head, looked back to Steph’s door, gently sighed, and left her room.

 

Quiet.

 

Mikey looked up from his game to look at Steph.

“She has a crush on Rachel, doesn’t she?”

Steph scoffed.

“Totally.”

 

\---

 

Rachel was quietly looking at herself in the mirror of the back-of-house dressing room in theater class.

All things considered, it was a pretty awesome day.

Chloe was still a little awkward here or there, but she seemed to really appreciate the effort Rachel put into getting her to open up and feel better about things yesterday.

That wasn’t to say there weren’t any consequences, though.

Spending time with Chloe inevitably meant time had to be removed from somewhere, somehow.

No matter how hard Rachel tried, she couldn’t be in two places at the same time, after all.

The thought earned a small smirk from her.

It was still too early to really tell, but Rachel was getting the feeling that despite her social capital, Chloe was such an outsider it was causing unfavorable rumors to spread.

It’d only been a day or two and she already had to tamp down some gossip that she was neglecting class specifically to get Chloe out of a Mood – even if that wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

But there was a conflict.

Rachel genuinely enjoyed talking to Chloe yesterday, seeing her room, seeing her drop her guard and open up some more, and she was able to share a little of her own burden.

Not much, but even that little bit was tremendously refreshing.

She didn’t have to worry about Chloe gossiping or holding it over her head later or anything – it was just, a nice thing shared between friends.

Rachel wasn’t sure if she valued that kind of honest and genuine connection with Chloe more than her rewarding but very fake connection with her friends.

And if she wanted to spend more time with Chloe or spend more time making her social circle accepting of Chloe’s rough edges.

Maybe Rachel could test the waters more with someone like Dana, or Hayden, or one of the other popular kids.

… no.

Dana and all of them were nice, but it just didn’t feel the same hanging around them in private behind closed doors.

Chloe felt like the kind of person she could eventually get to bury a body for her.

Dana felt like the kind of person to be scandalized if Rachel painted her toe nails a particularly frisky color.

And how weird is it Rachel just started these pieces together during Firewalk?

On a day the stars themselves told her to expect great surprises.

Chloe was certainly shaping up to be a great surprise.

 

“ _Nath_ \--- oh! It’s just you, Rachel.”

 

Rachel blinked and refocused her attention from the miles and miles away it had been when she was so lost in her thought.

She smiled and turned around to see who else but Mr. Keaton, but he wasn’t all smiles.

He looked concerned.

Rachel blinked.

“What’s wrong?”

Mr. Keaton sighed a bit too wearily and crossed his arms, one hand still tightly grasping at some clipboard.

His features got more serious.

“No one knows where Nathan is. We can’t practice his scenes without him! Oh dear it’s such a mess …”

Rachel caught herself before she could roll her eyes and pulled out her phone.

“I’ll find him. Don’t worry, Mr. Keaton.”

Her tone was chipper, perhaps inappropriately so, but usually people expected this kind of reassuring answer from Rachel.

Mr. Keaton sighed pleasantly.

“Of course, _you_ would, my bright star pupil! Well … don’t let me keep you.”

He turned and left, and Rachel just looked down to her phone with a small smile.

_nate where you at_

Still, Rachel was already getting up to leave.

She had a pretty good idea where Nate might be.

 

Somewhat worryingly, Nathan didn’t respond to her text.

Maybe he left it in his locker or something.

No …

He should have left football conditioning some minutes ago.

He should have his phone.

Maybe he didn’t want to talk?

Possibly, Nathan had his moods, much like Chloe.

But, just like Chloe, he usually made an exception for Rachel.

Hm.

Rachel didn’t know what to make of the silence.

She put her phone away and left the main building of the campus, leading out to the courtyard, with something of a slight pouted frown.

 

Rachel didn’t have to worry for much longer past that, though.

 

Just outside –

Drew, Chloe, Nathan –

Rachel blinked and her eyes were immediately drawn to the group.

Drew and Chloe were facing each other, making aggressive postures, while Nathan was behind Drew, collecting some pieces of paper? or something? on the ground.

Drew North was one of the football players on campus, probably the best athlete the team had.

He was massive.

Nathan Prescott was ... not, unfortunately, which put him into some conflict when he joined the football team.

Chloe moved a bit closer to Drew, and Rachel's thoughts refocused.

Oh no.

This did not look good, and Chloe –

“What did you say to me you little punk?”

Chloe was being … Chloe.

The Chloe Rachel saw, sometimes.

The Chloe that could stare up at someone twice her weight who clearly had an advantage over her and just … not care.

Even now, as Drew drew closer in his posturing, Chloe just stood her ground, firm.

“I said, ‘don’t you have anything better to do with your time other than waste it by bullying people?’ Or do you just _enjoy_ neglecting your younger brother like this, huh?”

Wait, what –

What was –

Rachel finally worked through her stupor –

“Chloe! Drew! Nathan! Come on, what’s ---”

The three of them all noticed Rachel at once, and all three looked to her at the same time, even from at various parts of the field.

There always was that slight smile whenever Chloe looked at her – Nathan too –

But Drew –

He saw Chloe looking away –

He raised his fist –

Rachel frowned, deep and miserably –

“Hey!”

Too late.

Drew’s massive fist came right up and connected _hard_ with the distracted Chloe, immediately flooring her and seemingly knocking her unconscious.

What?!

 

Quiet.

 

Nathan just looked at the downed Chloe, clearly as shocked as Drew was.

Rachel could hear herself suddenly breathing it was so quiet.

Her mouth fell to the fucking floor.

One, two, three seconds –

Her fists tightened up miserably and she _stormed_ towards Drew, like –

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

Drew looked between Rachel and Chloe constantly, his hands uselessly up by his chest, though he was suddenly afraid of the strength he had in his arms –

“I – I, I --- I didn’t think ---”

Rachel wasn’t having it.

“--- Obviously not, you bonehead!”

There was a bit of distance to close between her and little scene, but she was determined to make it to Drew, and Drew was sort of frozen in his own shock.

He looked up to Rachel again and saw her getting close –

“Rach, come on – you know –”

Rachel got up _right_ in front of him and shoved him, and were he better prepared and less shocked, it probably wouldn’t have done much, but as it was, it made him take a step back before he recovered.

Rachel’s face was pitched up in furious anger.

“– Do you even _know_ what you just did, Lurch!?”

He blinked and shook his head,

“– I –”

Rachel raised her hands up and gesticulated towards him, considering another shove but deciding against it,

“– You just punched out a girl! –”

Drew frowned, looking over to Chloe,

“– _No_ , I –“

Rachel still wasn’t having it, though,

“– Wells _is_ so busting your ass for this! Just wait until he hears about this!"

This thought process finally brought some quiet between the two of them as Drew’s brain ticked through what it probably meant for him if this got out, which it probably would.

Rachel was breathing so heavily and forcefully.

Drew hurriedly looked between Chloe and Rachel and his breathing started to pick up, as his voice pitched up in obvious concern,

“Shiiiiiiit! _No_! Uh. This … this didn’t happen! You didn’t see this!”

Drew looked back to Nathan,

“You didn’t see this!”

Back to Rachel,

“Not one second of this!”

Rachel frowned.

“– Drew! –"

Drew suddenly turned on his heel and _bolted_ –

Rachel blinked and considered chasing after him,

“Hey! Don’t just – _get_ _back here_! Chloe needs help!”

But he just kept on running, running, and running.

It wasn’t long since he was out-of-sight, being a star athlete and all.

Rachel sighed wearily and shook her head.

“… _fucking, fuck_. Useless jock.”

It came under her breath.

Whatever.

There’s no way he was getting away with this – but for now, there were more important things to deal with.

She looked back down to Chloe, and in an instant, the anger just left her.

Chloe looked so awful down there, but at least she was laying in some grass, instead of having landing on some concrete.

Still.

“Chloe …”

Rachel quickly destressed her posture and got down on her knees to touch Chloe’s face and feel her pulse and other first-responder sorts of things –

It was just a punch, after all, so nothing read as anomalous.

Something bothered Rachel, though; Chloe didn’t look very peaceful in her sleep.

Her face was scrunched up in some kind of distress or agony.

Like she was still feeling the punch, even in her sleep.

Poor Chloe …

Damn it.

If Rachel was a bit faster, she could have easily diffused this.

Drew, Nathan, Chloe – they were all her friends, to various degrees and levels.

They would listen to her.

She should have been fucking paying attention to the fact Nathan was not in practice, and she would have been able to see this coming a mile away …

But she was just so busy thinking about things – fuck.

“Um … is she going to be okay?”

Nate’s words kicked Rachel out of her thoughts.

She immediately, impulsively, smiled as she looked up to Nathan.

“Don’t worry. Chloe’s had knives pulled on her. I’m sure she’s taken a sucker punch once or twice in her life.”

Nate awkwardly smiled a little himself.

“You um, were brave. Scaring Drew off like that.”

Rachel sighed wearily and looked down to Chloe.

“Maybe … what happened? Before that?”

Rachel felt Chloe’s forehead with the back of her hand.

She was in a cold sweat …

They should probably get her to the nurse’s office …

Nate frowned and fidgeted, though not that Rachel could see it.

“Nothing.”

Rachel sighed a bit too wearily at this and looked around.

They were hardly the only people out and about right now.

She looked back up to Nate with a small and uncharacteristic frown.

“ _Nate_.”

Nate rubbed at the back of his neck and sighed himself, looking away for a second or two.

“Drew … doesn’t like my drawings. He thinks they’re for … faggy-little-fairies. He tried to dump them in the fountain over there so I’d be a … _better man_ or _whateverthefuck_.”

Rachel frowned more viscerally.

That didn’t sound right at all …

She had known Drew for a while, now.

“Drew isn’t like that …”

Nate groaned and shook his head, looking back to Rachel.

“Well shit I-don’t-know. He is _now_.”

Rachel sighed again and looked back down to Chloe.

 

“I wonder what’s gotten into him …”

 

She didn’t have too long to dwell on the thought, though.

Chloe made a distant, quiet, unconscious, uncomfortable groaning noise.

“No … dad … _don’t_ … warm …”

Nate looked down to Chloe, too, since it was kinda weird to hear some mumble like that.

Rachel suddenly looked up to Nate.

“Help me carry her to the nurse’s office.”

Nate blinked.

“… what?”

 

\---

 

Chloe felt warm for once.

It’d been a while since she was this comfortable.

Nestled into her dad’s side, poking at some marshmallows and roasting them over a naked open flame.

Sometimes, life was just good.

She could feel the rising and falling of her dad’s chest in subtle ways as he breathed and the gentle motions he made to poke some marshmallows too without disturbing his daughter’s position too much.

When Chloe closed her eyes, she could hear the crickets contently chirping off in the distance, little occasional twigs breaking, owls and birds and –

It was such a comfortable night.

“You know,”

Her dad started, suddenly, and Chloe blinked and separated from him somewhat to look up at him carefully, since if he was going to be talking her prior position wasn’t too appropriate for it.

Chloe’s dad smiled and forcefully stuck a marshmallow in his mouth, chewing it a bit too openly and loudly in that way that always annoyed her mother but never prevented him from doing it anyway.

“People have these weird ideas about fire. Goes back millennia.”

Chloe blinked again.

“Um … weird ideas about fire?”

Chloe’s dad laughed gently and poked another marshmallow to roast it over the flame.

“Yeah. You think we’d understand it by now, since it was, what, human kind’s first or second invention? But noooooooo.”

Chloe couldn’t help but smile a little at her dad’s silly tone and phrasing, even if the conversation was a little odd and uncanny.

“What don’t we understand about it?”

Chloe’s dad made a thoughtful sound.

“There’s this saying I never quite liked. ‘Fire doesn’t burn itself’.”

He patted at one of his thighs forcefully and shook his head with a dissatisfied grunt.

“ _Malarkey_. Fire is most dangerous to itself.”

Chloe blinked again.

“Fire is dangerous to itself …?”

Chloe’s dad nodded and stuck another marshmallow in his mouth, then put down his poking stick and chewed until he was ready to swallow.

“Think about it.”

His hand came around and wrapped around Chloe to tug her back into his side.

Chloe was happy to relent and melt into her father’s warm embrace, closing her eyes and just listening to the way his voice resonated now that her ear was in contact with him,

“Fire, when uncontrolled, burns _everything_ around it. That’s how it lives. But fire needs things to burn _to_ stay alive. Y’see? There’s a bit of a pickle there. Whatever fire burns to stay alive now, it can’t burn later to stay alive then, and sooner or later …”

 

The camp fire suddenly went out.

 

Chloe blinked her eyes open at the very unreality that just happened.

 

“… it has burned everything and has nothing left anymore.”

Chloe suddenly didn’t feel that warm, even with her father’s hand around her.

“Um … dad …?”

His grip got tighter, and tighter.

She never remembered her father having long nails but she suddenly felt them pressing into her arm through the fabric of her shirt.

 

“So just keep in mind. Fire isn’t the only way to stay warm. But sometimes fire needs _you_ to stay warm.”

 

The campfire suddenly reignited –

It was a _massive_ inferno that shot straight up, dozens of feet into the air –

It spread around, catching some of the trees on fire, in a weird, clearly supernatural swirl of fire –

With the fresh light, Chloe saw her dad’s hand –

It was old, mummified, dead, grasping with unnatural deadly strength –

Her eyes went down to the stick he had used, as she saw some fire hop onto it –

The fire shot up her dad’s too-skinny leg –

Chloe watched it speed up to her dad’s face, horrified –

 

She couldn’t help but scream when she saw the corpse that was once her father, now holding her in a literally deathly-tight rigor mortis grip, as the fire started to consume them both.

 

\---

 

Rachel just stared at Chloe as she rested uneasily in the nurse’s office.

Until Chloe suddenly, and violently, sat up with a horrid gasp.

She was hyperventilating for a few seconds as she hurriedly looked around the room and realized her surroundings were clinical, safe.

Rachel felt an awful lot of empathy in Chloe’s apparent anguish while she slept and woke.

She decided to sit down next to Chloe and take her hand – Chloe uneasily jumping a little at the touch again – to try and offer her some comfort.

And even if Chloe’s initial reaction was still surprised, it did seem to soothe her after a few seconds.

“Hey. Relax. Everything’s fine.”

Chloe started to calm her breathing down as she obviously looked at Rachel taking her hand, then around the room at large.

“Ugh … what? What happened?”

She sounded so dazed too, the poor thing.

Rachel frowned a little.

“You got punched out by Drew.”

Chloe groaned.

“Uhhhnnnn. Does he at least look worse?”

Rachel laughed at this, genuinely not expecting a joke after … all of that, but quite appreciating it.

She released Chloe’s hand and crossed her arms.

“Not quite.”

The nurse suddenly came into the picture, coldly handing Chloe an ice pack and writing some stuff down on her clipboard.

“Good. You’re awake. You wanna save yourself some time and go down to the principal's office before he calls you there?”

Rachel frowned at this – the nurse, of all people, was being the exact opposite of what she should be.

Chloe just had night tremors or – something, a nightmare maybe – after getting assaulted, and the nurse was _blaming her_ casually, like – _what_ –

“N-no. I’m fine. I just … fell. Wells doesn’t need to hear about this.”

Rachel blinked and blinked and blinked.

Chloe was _lying_ to cover _Drew_? _What_?

The nurse crossed her arms, clearly unimpressed.

“Uh-huh. Let me guess. You don’t want me to call your mother ei ---”

Chloe damn near jumped up,

“--- no! Um. No. No, please. Just … I’ll go.”

Rachel could hardly believe her eyes or her ears as Chloe just got up out of the bed, taking the icepack and automatically placing it against the black eye she was now sporting while she moved to quietly leave the nurse’s office.

The nurse didn’t seem to care, going right back to her seat to write some more things down.

Just … what?

This wasn’t how any of this was supposed to happen …

The nurse never treated Rachel like this.

Chloe kind of looked back to Rachel for a second before she left the room, and Rachel finally worked her through her shock to stand up and hurriedly chase after Chloe.

“Chloe …! What …”

As they left the nurse’s office, Chloe just groaned.

“It’s just … whatever. I’m fine. Really.”

Rachel frowned deeply, viscerally, because she knew Chloe was lying to her, and Chloe was a damn awful liar.

Chloe threw her ice pack away at the firs trash can they walked past, and Rachel almost reached in to tear it back out and shove it back into Chloe’s hands because _seriously_ –

“Chloe. _Stop_.”

Chloe sighed, stopped, and hesitated.

She slowly turned around to face the irritated-looking Rachel and looked down at the floor.

Rachel couldn’t stay too mad looking at Chloe’s face for that long, though, and her expression gently evened out.

Still, there was some awkwardness between them for a few seconds.

Rachel spoke first.

“What’s going on?”

Chloe barely looked up.

“Wells can’t hear about this. He just … he _can’t_.”

Rachel frowned.

“You can’t just let Drew get away with this!”

Chloe scoffed and looked away.

“He probably already did … Wells isn’t going to do anything against his precious star quarterback.”

She sighed wearily, and crossed her arms, hesitating for a few seconds.

“But he sure will do something against the resident disappointment.”

Rachel blinked a few times, a little unsure how to respond to that.

“ _What_? You think Well is going to blame _you_ for this?”

Chloe frowned and looked back to Rachel.

“I _know_ he will. He … he always does.”

There was this … something, in Chloe’s voice.

A little faltering, a little fragile, a little insecure, a little wounded.

Like Chloe had accepted the fact Mr. Wells always sided against her, but still felt anguish over it.

It tugged at Rachel’s heart strings again and she sighed gently, taking a few steps closer so they were almost adjacent.

Chloe’s eyes wavered a little as she got closer.

Rachel could see her black eye still developing, and boy was it obvious.

How bad would it look in a couple of hours …?

Damn, just how bad did Drew hit her?

Was she in a lot of pain, still …?

Thoughtlessly, Rachel reached a hand up to gently touch at Chloe’s cheek just shy of the black eye, and although Chloe jumped a little again at the touch, she seemed to getting better at dealing with it.

Still, after a second or two, she raised a hand up to grab Rachel’s, and gently tug it down and away.

“Um …”

Chloe’s eyes went down to the floor, and there was just barely this indication of blush on her cheeks.

Rachel sighed.

“Chloe … it looks _awful_. If you’re not going to tell Wells … at least let me do something about this.”

Chloe blinked and looked back up.

 

“Uh. Like … what?”

 

Rachel smirked.

Chloe gulped.

 

Some minutes later, Rachel had tugged Chloe back into drama class, but kept on dragging her well past the crowd of people practicing back into the changing room.

She sat Chloe down on the chair Rachel herself had been sitting on when she was staring at the mirror and started to break out some makeup.

Chloe eyed it suspiciously, like Rachel was preparing a bunch of toxins or something.

“What’s that?”

Rachel rolled her eyes a little.

“Makeup. I’m going to make that black eye disappear like magic.”

Chloe blinked.

“You can _do that_ with makeup?”

Rachel giggled somewhat and started to load a brush with some foundation to see if it would suffice for her purposes here.

“Yes, silly. You can do a lot with makeup … you’re how many years into high school and don’t know about this yet?”

Chloe just shrugged and her eyes looked down as Rachel started to brush it on Chloe’s black eye, very gingerly and carefully to avoid hurting it even more.

“I dunno. I don’t really care about this … girly crap.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully as she kept packing it on.

“You do have a point … I’m having trouble imagining you spending hours in front of a beauty mirror.”

Chloe exhaled, amused, and got a small smile at this.

“You’d be lucky if I spent a few minutes each morning in front of one …”

Rachel smiled a bit wider.

The foundation was actually working pretty well.

Rachel idly wondered what Chloe would look like if she ever put on as much makeup as Rachel did.

Certainly, her skin could be more even, and she’d look so much better with some eyeliner …

“Hmmm.”

Rachel finished putting it around Chloe’s eye and examined her handiwork again.

Chloe’s eyes looked up to Rachel, staring at her carefully.

“Well … it looks a _little_ odd. But better than a black eye. Look.”

Chloe’s eyes didn’t leave Rachel for a few seconds past this, though, only seemingly begrudgingly going to look off to the mirror.

“Woah …”

She carefully raised one of her hands up to her no-longer black eye, not touching it, but moving her hand around it, as if she was trying to catch the mirror out for a fake.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“That’s not even in my top ten of impressive makeup magic tricks.”

Chloe got … kind of weird, after this.

Rachel was expecting another little quip now that she was warming up to Rachel, but instead, she kind of retreated into herself, slumping down as if defeated, and resting her arms in her lap.

Rachel blinked.

Chloe sighed.

“… thanks.”

Chloe didn’t like her voice as it came out, so quiet and insecure-sounding.

But it was just … weird.

To think about all of this.

Rachel didn’t seem to mind though, with a content sigh and a cute little,

“What are friends for?”

Chloe looked up with a soft smile as she saw Rachel starting to walk away, towards one of the dressing areas.

She blinked.

“Where you going?”

Rachel smirked and snickered a little,

“It’s practice time, silly. I need to get into my costume.”

Chloe blinked and looked down again.

Rachel in a costume …

Chloe didn’t really allow herself to look at it last time, since, really –

Rachel stopped, suddenly, and turned around to face Chloe.

Her words were all quiet and sincere.

“I think you’d like it.”

Chloe looked back up with another smile, but Rachel only met her gaze for a little bit before disappearing behind some protective barrier to change her clothes.

Quiet.

Chloe could hear the ruffling of clothes, the zipping of bags before –

Rachel started to gently hum a song.

Chloe blinked.

That was definitely Rachel singing …

With another smile, Chloe carefully got off her chair and looked around the room, slowly making her way towards Rachel, but intending to be respectful.

She just wanted to hear her hum the little song more clearly.

This room was honestly a bit of a mess, between all of the costumes haphazardly strewn about and makeup kits and props and other random crap.

But there was a certain kind of intimacy to the tightness of the room and how lived-in everything felt.

Like it only got this messy from months of people coming in, changing into costume, putting on what makeup they needed, and then hurriedly leaving to go practice some, eager to impress their teacher, properly.

Chloe gently crossed her arms and rested her back against the room divider that kept her from seeing Rachel indecent, closing her eyes and looking up to the ceiling.

“What do you like about drama class, anyway?”

Chloe didn’t know where the topic came from.

It just sprung out of her mouth.

Rachel continued her gentle humming for a few seconds, then the sounds of shuffling paused.

“Hmm. There’s a question.”

The shuffling continued, as Rachel continued to hum, probably thinking about how to answer.

“I like the performance aspect of it. I can be or do whatever I want, when it’s my character …”

Chloe scoffed, a little.

“Ever play a pirate?”

Rachel had her soft amused sound.

“Can’t say I have … you?”

Chloe smirked.

“I guess. When I was younger. With Max. It was like, pretend, though. Not … acting.”

Rachel continued to gentle hum.

The song she was singing Chloe started to memorize automatically.

“Pretend, dolls, barbies – it’s all practice for acting when you’re younger. I think it counts.”

Chloe thought about it with her own little hum.

The shuffling stopped again and Chloe heard Rachel take some steps away from her dressing spot, so Chloe pushed herself off the wall and looked over to where she expected Rachel to appear, opening her eyes.

She wasn’t expecting to see what she saw, though.

As Rachel came around the corner, she was smiling as she always did, but the outfit was practically radiant on her.

Completely skin-tight from head-to-toe, no shoes, little cuts and open tears all over it.

Chloe simply couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

Even when she found herself blushing a little bit.

 

All her life, Rachel understood people easily and effortlessly.

Usually within the first few seconds of meeting someone – and usually people got a pretty good handle of what to expect out of her quickly, too.

But here then, was a surprise, that Rachel wasn’t expecting.

The way Chloe looked at her in her costume.

What Rachel expected is what she would have expected from any other girlfriend of hers – some quiet appreciation, a compliment, maybe a small critique about how form-fitting it was or how silly the colors were or something.

That’s not what Chloe did.

Her eyes were _consuming_ Rachel, going all up and down her body in a way that almost felt ogling, and Chloe either didn’t realize she was doing it, or didn’t care if Rachel realized she was doing it.

Chloe was checking her out.

Like she was a boy, or something.

Rachel … simply didn’t know what to make or think of that.

Was Chloe gay?

Was she simply very interested in the outfit and couldn’t take her eyes off of it?

… or was she just interested in Rachel, and the fact this outfit was so form-fitting and partially revealing was overwhelming her?

Despite not knowing what to make of Chloe’s apparent attraction, Rachel didn’t feel violated by her hungry gaze, and nor did she know what to make of the fact she didn’t.

Surely if Chloe were a boy right now, this would be offensive, somehow.

Or maybe it wouldn’t – and it’d feel exactly like this did, now.

It felt _empowering_.

Like _of course_ Chloe would ogle her – could she even _see_ what Rachel looked like in this?

Maybe this was a complete mistake to do, and maybe Rachel would regret feeling like she did, but seeing how Chloe reacted, seeing her blush slowly consume her face until she nervously looked away, as if realizing her look was becoming inappropriate, seeing her cross her arms defensively and try and recover –

Rachel just smirked.

 

“I think you would make a great actor. As soon as Max comes back, I’ll drag her to this class too … we’ll make proper pirates out of you both.”

 

As much as Rachel didn’t understand how to handle Chloe’s look, Chloe didn’t know how to handle as Rachel started walking closer to her, like, fuck –

Chloe looked up and Rachel still wasn’t any less radiant in her outfit, her smile no less consuming, her eyes no less vibrant and joyful, only now she looked _proud_ and _confident_ and when she walked there was a slight sway to her hips and –

Fuck.

For some reason, Chloe felt compelled to look behind herself at Rachel’s _you_ , even if she knew Rachel _had_ to be talking to her, and she only saw a dumb mannequin behind her –

Rachel stopped a little short of Chloe’s front.

Chloe agonizingly slowly brought her gaze back to Rachel.

And she bit her lip.

Despite … everything, it was weirdly comforting to hear Rachel talk about Max like that.

Like she would just come back tomorrow, and she’d still be Chloe’s best friend when she did.

Rachel must have took their conversation to heart, yesterday …

“I … uhm. I think I’d … like that. A lot.”

She gulped.

Wow she sounded nervous – the fuck.

Chloe cleared her throat to try and get some of her composure back, but Rachel just smirked again.

“Done deal. Now … I think I already have my answer, but … what do you think out of the outfit, Chloe …?”

 

Rachel fucking Amber in this fucking skin tight suit started to fucking twirl around, letting Chloe see basically every inch of her fucking body.

This was just –

“I …”

Chloe looked away, only to see Mr. Keaton approaching her.

Holy fuck did she appreciate this excuse.

Mr. Keaton, though, had a serious frowning look on his face.

Chloe tried to calm herself down as Rachel realized what Chloe was looking at and crossed her arms to look at Mr. Keaton too.

Mr. Keaton stopped a ways short of them and sighed.

“Chloe. Rachel.”

He looked between the two of them, then to Chloe.

“Mr. Wells wants you in his office for the fight you started.”

… damn.

What a way to come crashing back to reality.

Chloe sort of slumped into herself more than she had, crossing her arms up higher and letting her shoulders fall.

She looked away from Mr. Keaton.

“… alright.”

Rachel, however, looked at Chloe, and her seemingly-broken-down spirit, and it tore into Rachel again like a knife.

She _knew_ this wasn’t Chloe.

Just like she knew the _real_ Chloe didn’t blame herself for being attached to Max or her sentimental things.

The _real_ Chloe would get angry at this injustice, _demand_ that things be corrected with Drew, damn the fact he was the superstar of the football team.

And this, somehow, kicked up something deep in Rachel, and she frowned.

“I’m going too.”

Chloe blinked.

So did Mr. Keaton.

They both looked at her and spoke in unison.

“… what?”

Rachel kept the seriousness of her features.

Whatever the hell was going on with Drew, the nurse, the principal – Mr. Keaton too, apparently – Chloe deserved _none_ of this.

She should fucking know that.

“I’m going to the principal’s office, too. I saw what happened. He will be interested in what I have to say.”

Mr. Keaton blinked a few times.

“Rachel, I’m sure that’s not necessary, he’ll –”

Rachel looked up to Mr. Keaton, eyes alit with dangerous fire.

“No. It _is_ necessary.”

She stormed off back into the changing room just to put on some shoes quickly and take her bag with her.

 

“Chloe. Come on.”

 

For once, Chloe didn’t want to object to Rachel leading her on.

Mr. Keaton was quietly stunned as the two made their way out of the dressing room and out to Mr. Well’s office.

That Rachel girl …

 

Usually, when Rachel led Chloe somewhere, Chloe was quiet, thoughtful, perhaps overwhelmed, and it was kind of a cute thing.

This time though, she was just retreated into that fake, broken version of herself that the damn school probably wanted out of her.

The walk was pretty quiet, aside from Rachel occasionally pulling out her phone to field texts from other kids in practice wondering what her storming out of the class with Chloe was all about.

Like one from Nate.

_whats up_

She didn’t have to think very long on the answer.

_have to kick some ass dw xoxo_

Nor did she have to wait very long for the reply.

 _dmn_ _u go_

It put a smirk on her face.

About half way to the office, though, Chloe spoke up, and her voice was still damaged and insecure.

“… you don’t have to do this …”

Rachel scoffed.

“I know I don’t. I _want_ to.”

She shook her head, gently.

“It’s what friends are for.”

Rachel couldn’t see it, but despite Chloe’s head being bowed and her all being moody and diminished, she smiled at Rachel’s attitude.

 

Inside the office, Chloe sat down disinterested and distracted, immediately crossing her arms and looking away from Mr. Wells.

Rachel knew Mr. Wells as a well-intentioned figure, someone who genuinely tried his best to keep the peace in the school, and he always seemed to be even-handed when it came to conversations he had with her and her family.

But …

Maybe this was someone else Rachel simply didn’t fully know, like Chloe.

Maybe this was just a mask he put on around her, and he was about to see the true Mr. Wells, now that he was dealing with Chloe, and Rachel was merely an accessory.

Rachel took the seat next to Chloe and looked at Mr. Wells straight in the eye, sitting up straight.

Mr. Wells’ eyebrow cocked at Rachel’s inclusion in the meeting, but he soon looked to Chloe and folded his hands together.

“Ms. Price. I’m sure you’re aware of why I’ve called you to my office.”

Mr. Wells’ unfolded his hands to steeple his fingers, placing the tip of each finger from one hand onto the other, while his hands pushed farther and closer together.

Chloe remained restrained and disinterested, slumped into her chair and not making eye contact.

“I guess.”

Rachel patiently waited for a falsehood she could correct.

Mr. Wells made a flat humming sound and looked from Chloe to Rachel, then back again.

“You know our policy about starting fights. This _constant_ disrespect of the rules ---”

Finally.

Rachel almost jumped out of her seat,

“--- Chloe didn’t start the fight.”

Unlike Chloe’s voice, which was drained and detached, Rachel’s was fiery and sharp.

The two of them blinked for a few seconds, and all eyes were on Rachel.

“Ms. Amber …?”

Rachel frowned, a bit.

“I saw everything. Drew was bullying Nathan and Chloe told him to stop. When I tried to join in to get everything to calm down, Drew punched Chloe out and ran away, telling us nothing had just happened.”

Quiet.

Chloe looked at Rachel in quiet awe, sitting more upright in her chair.

Mr. Wells processed the information silently for a few seconds.

“I see. That runs into direct contradiction to what some other students have told me …”

Rachel frowned more viscerally, and her reply came automatically.

“They’re lying.”

Mr. Wells repeated his thoughtful sound and looked over to Chloe.

“Is this true, Chloe? Were you trying to stop Drew from bullying Nathan?”

Chloe shrugged a little, but when her voice came out next, it had more strength to it.

“Yeah. Sounds right.”

She uncrossed her arms to place her hands on her lap instead.

Mr. Wells looked between the two of them, still processing the new information poorly.

Eventually, he looked to Rachel.

“Ms. Amber, as you know, you are quite a valued student and I have the utmost respect for your word. Are you _sure_ you wish to associate it with ---”

Goddamn it why did everyone treat Chloe like some kind of rat.

Rachel uneasily placed her hands down onto her lap with a bit too much force.

 

“--- _yes_. I _know_ what I saw. Chloe did _nothing_ wrong.”

 

Mr. Wells sighed a bit too wearily and sat back in his chair.

“Very well. I suppose I’ll have to canvas more before I make my final evaluation of the events that unfolded this afternoon.”

He looked over to Chloe.

“You’re dismissed. … for now.”

Chloe could hardly believe what just happened, but she didn’t have to, since Rachel was up and pleasantly tugging Chloe out of the office and into the hallway.

When they were out, Rachel couldn’t help a small giggle, and Chloe couldn’t help but return it.

Rachel released Chloe’s hand and did that twirl around again, since she felt so free and vindicated after Wells coming around.

Chloe just stared, and Rachel momentarily put the fact that Chloe was staring at her in _that_ way out of her mind.

“I _knew_ Mr. Wells would listen to me.”

Chloe smiled a little and gently crossed her arms, still watching Rachel go.

“I can’t believe it …”

Rachel suddenly stopped to turn to face Chloe.

Her face got very serious as she walked up in front of her.

“Chloe. You didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t just … it’s _wrong_ to let him get away with that.”

Chloe’s smile was replaced with a frown as she sighed and uncrossed her arms.

She closed her eyes and looked off briefly before back to Rachel.

“It’s not … it’s not that simple, Rachel. Mr. Wells doesn’t believe me … the nurse doesn’t … none of the teachers do. I’m just a fuck-up ---”

Rachel was so fucking sick of this attitude by now.

She closed what distance remained between them and tightly wrapped her arms around Chloe in a tight hug.

Chloe’s hands came up on either side of her, but she didn’t seem to know how to handle the affection, so she just kind of awkwardly did nothing.

Rachel let Chloe receive her warmth for a few seconds before she spoke.

“--- Chloe. Stop saying that. You’re worth so much more. If you just try … if you just be yourself.”

Chloe didn’t know who or what herself was, anymore.

But she had a feeling if she was around Rachel long enough … she’d remember.

Chloe sniffled a little and was happy Rachel’s face was snugly buried into her person somewhere, so she couldn’t see this weakness.

It just felt so nice, so comforting, so reassuring, to have someone care, to have someone tell her she meant things.

 

Chloe felt warm for the first time in maybe two years.

 

Eventually, Rachel separated, and smiled up at Chloe.

Chloe was still full of … a lot of emotions, but she managed to look down at Rachel and return the smile.

“… thanks. No one stands up for me, anymore …”

Rachel just smiled, smiled, smiled.

“What are friends for?”

Chloe smiled, too, as wide as Rachel did.

She did blush a little since, well … Rachel was still in the outfit.

She rubbed at the back of her neck and looked away, but she was still smiling.

“… yeah.”

Rachel still had a lot of weird thoughts to work through with Chloe looking at her like _that_ and obviously blushing in embarrassment from where her thoughts must be going, but she didn’t feel any less comfortable around Chloe with this knowledge.

Still, Rachel sighed and pulled out her phone again, since it was overwhelmed with texts from others.

She started replying to them while she talked.

“I should really get back to practice now – I know you don’t get along with anyone there, but … we’ll talk later?”

Chloe nodded.

The urge came to ask to hang out right after practice, but, Chloe for some reason didn’t want to seem needy or pushy for Rachel’s time, and, well, she needed to work through all of what Rachel made her feel when she was in that fucking outfit.

“Alright. Later.”

Rachel looked up from her phone with that warm smile again.

“Later.”

She turned on her heel and walked away.

Chloe just watched her, the way her hips swayed, the way her long hair flowed down her back, the confident stroll she had … fuck.

Friends don’t feel like … this, for other friends, do they?

Would Chloe react like this if Max or Eliot was in a suit like that …?

 

Fuck.

 

Chloe’s phone vibrated a few seconds later, past when Rachel had turned the corner.

_this is my number btw ;) xoxoxo_

Winky face, hugs and kisses …

Chloe just smiled and with a happy sigh, saved the number into her phone.

She wasn’t much of a texter, but Rachel sure was, and it wasn’t a huge deal to accommodate her.

Rachel had shit to do, after all, and Chloe had a movie to watch, now.

It just made Chloe giddy all day long she had Rachel fucking Amber’s number and could now comfortably call her a friend.

What a week.

 

\---

 

Drew nervously looked around as he walked up close to Frank’s RV.

Frank had a habit of parking this damn thing in some pretty inconvenient places sometimes, probably to avoid the police or something.

Whatever.

He banged on the door.

After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Frank, who immediately crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame.

Drew saw another figure behind him, but only briefly.

He could hear steps going deeper into the RV, though …

“Where’s my money?”

Drew sighed and looked around again.

“I don’t got it. The season’s been awful and –”

Frank stepped out of the RV.

Drew blinked.

The door closed behind him and Frank uncrossed his arms just long enough to shove Drew back.

“- I’m not an idiot. I _know_ you’ve been selling and stashing the profit.”

Drew hesitated.

Did Frank _actually_ know, or was he just bluffing …?

And since when did Frank _shove_ people?

“--- _No_! I’m … I’m serious! I would never lie to you, Frank!”

Drew felt like he was on pins and needles ever since Frank started pushing him about his debt, and it was seriously starting to escalate.

He just needed to stall for a little bit longer, though …

Frank frowned and went quiet for a second or two.

He looked down, then back up, and reached behind himself to pull out a fucking gun –

Jesus –

Drew’s hands went up by his chest in surrender but Frank still cocked the gun and put the barrel under Drew’s chin –

“You better not be. If I find out you sold _one_ gram of the stuff in the past whatever … you’re fuckin’ dead, kid. You got that?”

Holy shit.

Frank just –

Holy. Shit.

Drew was completely speechless, and it felt like he was going cry, like –

Frank just frowned and shoved Drew back.

“Now get my money and get lost.”

Drew just watched in stunned silence, but eventually turned around and buried his face in his hands, crying gently.

Frank put his gun away and watched Drew walk away, frowning deeply, but eventually sighing wearily.

Is this what he wanted …?

Making his clients cry over money …?

Damon left the RV and got behind Frank, placing one of his hands on his shoulder and rubbing it firmly.

“Perfect.”

Frank regretted how much he enjoyed Damon’s touch on his shoulder, like this.

He scoffed.

“Kid’s fuckin’ crying …”

Damon nodded, gently.

“That’s how you know they’re afraid. Pissing their pants, crocodile tears … can’t believe that shit. It’s all performance. Just to tug at your widdle ol’ wicker heart.”

Frank looked sidelong to Damon.

“You think that’s just an act?”

Damon nodded.

“Bet you 100 bones if we break into his room we’ll find at least a thousand or two. Maybe not the full debt, but … enough.”

Frank sighed, wearily.

“Someone’s going to call the fucking cops on us if we’re on campus.”

Damon grunted, flatly, and removed his hand to cross his arms.

 

“On me, at least. But you’re already late on our deal … I’m sure you can make something happen. Get our money and make an example of this little _bitch_ so _no one_ tries this shit again.”

 

With that, Damon turned around and entered the RV, again.

Frank sighed and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

He gave Drew so many chances, already, and look where it got him.

Maybe Damon was right.

He pulled out one of his burner phones and texted Chloe.

_we need to talk. meet me at the junkyard tomorrow._

 

Maybe he’d draw suspicion if _he_ was on campus, but, not Chloe.

Chloe owed him money and he knew she could pick a lock.

She’d do.

Maybe he could have her ransack his room to send a message, or something.

Don’t fuck with Frank Bowers.

It had a nice ring to it.

He smiled, a bit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe screams into a pillow.
> 
> Frank makes a deal.
> 
> Rachel has a dumb excuse.
> 
> Eliot is concerned.
> 
> Drew is pissed.
> 
> Damon is amused.
> 
> Later, Rachel and Chloe are, too.

After school, Chloe went to the skate park to skate with her skater friends.

“Skate park” was probably a bit of an exaggeration; Arcadia Bay didn’t have a purpose-built one.

Just some abandoned structures and pools on the edge of the suburbs, not too far from Blackwell or Chloe’s home.

Still, it was easily a place Chloe could kill a lot of time, and it helped that Justin and Trevor were pretty reliable in this department, too.

Weed and skateboarding, or bake ‘n skate as they called it.

Chloe didn’t have any weed, right now, and still didn’t want to have the obnoxious conversation with Justin about Rachel to get some, especially after everything that happened recently.

Rachel standing up for her like that, dressing like that …

Chloe tried not to think about it too much, but it was hard not to.

Still.

Skating was a pretty good distraction.

 

And it proved to be as such for a good hour or so.

One of the activities she could just totally zone out during, like when she listened to music, and just do random tricks or whatever.

And Chloe expected this afternoon to play out like many such afternoons would.

 

But this afternoon was unique.

Chloe started a new trick.

Not the most impressive of things, just grinding on some rails, but it still required _focus_.

Focusing was actually one of the things Chloe was good at, if she put her mind to it –

She could perfectly imagine how she’d grind down this rail and what kinds of tricks she could do either to dismount or in the small height between the rail and the floor –

She just had to –

“Chloe?”

Chloe blinked wildly and awkwardly turned her head to face –

Fuck, she lost balance –

Chloe unceremoniously tumbled down to the ground and skidded to a stop, unfortunately by way of her elbow raking against the hard concrete.

Ow.

Between that and landing on her arm, Chloe was not feeling that great right now, and groaned, carefully sitting herself up to rub at her arm and the new wound she just acquired.

She had her eyes closed, but when she opened them –

Rachel.

Rachel was _right_ there, leaning over the rail Chloe had been grinding on, and smiling a bit.

“You’re … accident-prone.”

Chloe groaned again and closed her eyes, looking up to the ceiling.

Great.

Just great.

The first Rachel sees of Chloe’s skateboarding, she sees her bail like some sort of idiot that couldn’t even do a grind.

To make matters worse, she heard Justin and Trevor stop to look at the two.

Justin elbowed Trevor, and, grinning, he looked over to Rachel and Chloe.

They were a ways away, but …

“She is around you!”

Chloe groaned and looked down to the two gaggling idiots with a frown.

“ _Shut up_! No one asked you!”

The two snickered but got back to skating around, though their eyes were mostly on Chloe and Rachel.

Rachel, for her part, just smiled and ducked under the rail to come in front of Chloe.

Chloe blinked and looked up to her – for once.

Rachel got down on her knees in front of Chloe.

Chloe just blinked.

Rachel just smiled.

“Here, let me ---”

She reached towards Chloe’s injured arm –

Chloe used her other hand to grab of one of Rachel’s arms and just kinda hold her there –

The injured arm just sort of awkwardly hung sideways while the pain resonated through it.

“--- No, it’s, um, I’m – it’s fine. Fine. Really. I don’t --- it’s fine.”

Damn.

Chloe sounded like a _mess_.

What _was_ it about the way that Rachel smiled that did this to her so easily?

Rachel’s eyes went to both of Chloe’s hands and arms, and she smiled a bit wider, and exhaled, amused, and gently shook her head with her eyes closed.

“Okay, Chloe. You’re fine.”

She sounded so endeared, though, that Chloe couldn’t help a nervous smile.

Rachel sat down more properly, and Chloe adjusted her position too.

Their hands returned to themselves, with Rachel’s just resting easily on the floor, and Chloe’s arms somewhat crossed, with her healthy arm gently stroking and rubbing her injured one.

Eventually, Chloe’s arm stopped hurting enough that she could maneuver it around again, though the dripping of blood was kind of annoying, Chloe knew that’d stop eventually.

It’s not like she was bleeding on anything worthwhile, anyway.

Rachel looked off to Justin and Trevor, and then back to Chloe.

“You come around here often?”

Chloe nodded slowly, and her mind temporarily forgot to ask Rachel why _she_ was here.

Since, well, Chloe did want to hang out, she just didn’t want to seem needy for her time.

“Yeah, sure. I like skating.”

The chorus of idiots joined in,

“And bailing!”

To which Chloe just rolled her eyes, and Rachel giggled.

Still, when Chloe’s eyes came back to Rachel’s, they were both smiling.

Chloe cleared her throat and looked away for a second or two.

“Um. What about you?”

Rachel made a thoughtful sound.

“Not recently. Not since I took up drama, anyway.”

She then stood up.

“But I’ve been meaning to change that.”

She just smiled and offered a hand down to help Chloe up.

Chloe blinked, but eventually took the hand up, since she actually kind of needed the help with her hurt arm.

When they stood up, though, Chloe felt the air between them change.

Rachel _smirked_ and used Chloe’s hand to tug them close.

Until their bodies touched, anyway.

Chloe felt herself blushing at the sudden and unprovoked intimacy.

“Uhhh … change that? Like …?”

Her voice came out so breathless and nervous.

Fuck.

Rachel was so warm when she was this close, so vibrant, so sunny.

Chloe could smell her perfume …

Rachel giggled again and released Chloe’s hand.

She used that hand to wipe some of her hair behind her ear and then she flicked her head to readjust how her hair was flowing.

Chloe uselessly watched her, not even responding to her hand being released.

Then, Rachel carefully placed both of her hands on Chloe’s belly, and got up on her tippy toes.

“Yeah. Change that. By getting a cute girl to give me lessons to get me back in the swing of things.”

Her voice dropped down low and gentle.

 

“Or … maybe something _more_.”

 

Chloe blushed even more and couldn’t help but to look away –

Rachel just smiled, smiled, smiled, and closed her eyes.

She leaned forward –

Her hands went up to Chloe’s face –

 

\---

 

Chloe woke up in her bed with a too-excited gasp, sitting up immediately and ram-rod stiff at that and just breathing heavily and quickly for a few seconds.

Her eyes looked around the room, at first unrecognizing, but soon Chloe’s mind started to wake up and put two and two together.

She looked down to her mostly-naked body though her eyes weren’t really seeing anything –

She groaned so viciously, and it petered off into a near whining sound.

She flopped down on the bed and crammed her face into her pillow, then brought the pillow’s sides more against her face so she could more forcibly vent her frustration with a muted scream.

That went on for a good bit.

There was a lot to vent out, after all.

When the exertion was done with, she gently let the pillow’s sides back down and lazily turned her face away to look off to her nightstand.

She felt dead when she did this and her body unresponsive, but the venting _did_ make her feel better.

Not good, just … better.

Her eyes soon went to her clock, expecting it to be either too early or too late.

Pleasantly, though, she was just on time.

Well … at least she woke up on time.

But that really didn’t help Chloe’s mind to stop racing after that fucking dream.

Dreaming of Rachel fucking Amber making moves on her?

Trying to kiss her?

There was no other way to interpret what the fuck just happened.

Chloe just definitely dreamed of Rachel making a move on her and kissing her.

She knew that shit didn’t happen yesterday.

Rachel kept to herself.

Chloe watched her movie.

They just talked a bit over text.

Chloe was _dreaming_ of _kissing another girl_.

She made up a whole goddamn scenario for Rachel to be all cutesy and make a move on her.

And at no point did Chloe reject it or feel wrong about it.

This was her fucking dream.

Of making out with Rachel.

This was – no.

This wasn’t normal.

Friends _definitely_ don’t do things like that …

At least it was better than another dream with her fucking dad taunting her, she supposed.

But still.

What the fuck.

She needed to do … something, about this.

Venting some frustration felt nice, so Chloe decided more venting might help her even more.

Just a less scream-y kind of venting.

With a bit too weary of a sigh, Chloe agonizingly pulled her ass out of bed to go sit down on her computer chair.

Since she was still groggy and waking up, her movements were agonized and slow.

She cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders a bit when she settled down in her seat.

She wasn’t here to play with her computer, though.

No.

She had other ways to vent things.

It had just been a while since she needed to.

So, after breathing in deep, she reached down to her drawers, feeling the wood, and hesitated on opening one of them.

This drawer was both significant and verboten, and Chloe rarely allowed herself to look into it.

But she needed this.

Chloe closed her eyes and relaxed for a few seconds, then opened the drawer and carefully removed the top item from it without looking to the rest of the stuff in the drawer, because the reminders were just too painful.

Chloe placed this uppermost item – a book, of sorts, more like a journal of loosely-collected letters, and turned to the first available page.

Here too came another moment of delay and hesitation, and here too Chloe convinced herself to continue.

She needed this.

She found a pencil.

And started writing.

_Max,_

_Look at me. Writing again. Imagine that. I don’t even know why I’m still writing these things anymore. I know I won’t send them. I know you won’t respond. I guess maybe it’s nostalgia. Can you even have nostalgia for shit that hurts? I dunno. Girl I know thinks it’s ‘beautiful’, at least, but I think it’s just dumb. Or weird. Or maybe both. Maybe I should start thinking of it like she does, or not – who knows. What do you think, Max? Is it weird I still want to talk after everything you’ve done, or beautiful that everything you’ve done doesn’t make me not want to talk to you, because it means we were just that close?_

_I know you don’t have an answer. I’m just thinking._

_And you know what? I need to think about some other stuff. It’s been a while since I’ve done this - like -_

_I just had a dream about kissing a girl. A capital G Girly Girl. Yeah, really. Isn’t that weird? It doesn’t feel wrong, though. Maybe that’s the weird thing. I mean, she’s just a friend, and she’s a **girl**. I’ve dreamed about boys like that, too, but … you’re supposed to, right? Ugh. And what if the girl ends up turning out like the boy did? Shit – did I even tell you about that, yet? Probably not. Sucks to think about._

_So, the boy. Eliot. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned him before, but here’s the bottom line: genius computer dude who likes me more than I like him. And I didn’t know about that last part until after I hooked up with him. Great time to find out, right? I’m a real kidder like that, apparently. So I kinda sorta lost him as my best friend and now shit’s real awkward between us. But I can’t just keep on being that kind of bitch to people, especially not **her**. This girl is … something else, Max. She’s like a bizarro version of you. She’s pretty and popular and smart and everyone wants to know her and everyone wants to be her friend and – me? _

_I’m just Chloe._

_I guess there’s more to it than that. The girl – Rachel – also is just an awesome person to be around. She’s the one I talked about earlier who said it was ‘beautiful’ that I still had old shit of yours around and just like – think about that for a second. Someone other than you was in my room, touching my stuff, talking to me about it. You know how rare that is? I barely even let Eliot into my room, yet I let him inside of **me**._

_Okay, not funny, I know, but I wanted to imagine the look on your face reading that. I bet it’s funny._

_Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised I dreamed about kissing her after everything she’s said and done. And just the way she looks, man. You know how I used to tease you about those dumb boy bands? Imagine how you feel about them times a thousand. She has this fucking skin-tight costume - I swear you’d crush on her too if you saw it. Are you still weird about cooties? I guess that’s a plus that Rachel is a girl, then. No cooties. So no excuses if you ended up dreaming about kissing her, either._

_She’s amazing._

_Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. Thanks for listening, Max._

_I miss you._

_Chloe, the relationship maestro_

_(p.s. she doesn’t wear any hair ties. ever. just saying. it’s a good look)_

When she finished writing, Chloe just looked at the letter with a deep and weary sigh.

Thinking things through by writing it down definitely revealed some salient points.

This … was pretty gay.

Dreaming about kissing Rachel, being able to justify her attraction to her, comparing her to someone she had had sex with, like – these signs weren’t even in the ballpark of subtle.

Did that mean Chloe was gay?

She had Eliot, though.

So no?

How did that shit even work?

Bi?

But she didn’t enjoy her time with Eliot in _that_ way.

 _Ugghhh_.

Maybe it didn’t really matter whatever she was.

Rachel deserved a good friend with that kind of intense connection she talked about, earlier – not some kind of make out buddy.

Rachel probably had suitors for days, anyway. She could pick anyone she wanted to.

And Chloe _already_ fucked one good relationship by involving her stupid feelings in it.

Maybe Chloe did find Rachel attractive, but maybe that was that.

It’s not like Rachel needed to find out about this.

It’s not like Chloe needed to act on this.

Rachel would feel weird if she knew, right?

Like the odds of her feeling similar for Chloe were pretty long and the gamble Chloe simply didn’t want to make.

And even if she did, what if they went there, and Chloe pulled another asshole move like she did with Eliot?

No.

Maybe Chloe was gay, maybe she was gay just for Rachel, maybe she wasn’t even gay at all and she just wanted to be more intimate with her –

Whatever it was, this would be a private thing.

Chloe was _not_ going to fuck up one of these last precious few good things in her life.

She just wasn’t.

Not again.

Chloe shook her head, as if to physically dispel the thought, and quietly flipped through some of the older pages of her “journal” - a series of “letters” written to “Max”.

None were going to see the light of day.

But that was okay.

Each one helped her a little think through things.

And reading through some of them now again made her smile.

Eventually, when she moved to put the journal away, she hesitated when she saw another dumb sentimental thing she’d refused to throw away.

The last drawing she did of Max, while she was still around …

Usually, these memories were just … painful.

They reminded her of how much hurt she had gone through and how unfair her life really was.

But for some reason, the tears didn’t come, and Chloe’s mind didn’t think of how unfair it was.

Instead, she just quietly placed the journal back on her desk, brought the little drawing up, and ran over it with her fingers, smiling warmly.

Maybe these parts of her, these little memories, _were_ beautiful.

This drawing certainly was.

Chloe wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.

 

After a few moments of nostalgia, and realizing she was still basically naked, Chloe put the items away, closed the door with her foot, then set out to start her day.

She did, actually, have things to do today, surprisingly.

 

Frank wanted to talk to her in the junkyard, somewhat ominously.

That probably meant he wanted to talk to her about her debt, and Chloe kinda didn’t want to have the conversation all alone that far out, even if Frank was sort of a big puppy when it came to things like this.

She had a counter offer: he could drive her to school and have her ear during that while.

It’d be earlier, so he could get it out of the way more quickly, and a definite end to their conversation made Chloe feel a bit better about talking to Frank about something that was going to suck.

Plus, free ride to school.

Frank seemed unreceptive at first, but no one could resist Chloe’s virtual puppy dog eyes.

Score.

 

Chloe spent the morning kind of distracted, wondering not just what Frank wanted, but what all was going on between her and Rachel.

It was the kind of morning where she put conditioner on before shampoo and just had to groan at herself for being so stupid and scattered-brained.

And the kind of morning her mother’s gentle breakfast warning of “don’t wait up I have a date this afternoon” sort of just breezed right past Chloe without consideration.

Date, like, with a friend or something? Whatever. Chloe was probably going to try and spend this afternoon with Rachel, anyway, somehow or way.

Surprisingly, neither Wells nor the nurse called her mother about the incident at school, which only gave Chloe even more things to think about.

And how much she appreciated Rachel standing up for her …

The morning went by eventually and before she knew it Chloe was feeling her mother mess up her hair before she left and Chloe was getting into Frank’s RV to discuss whatever it was he wanted to discuss.

 

Frank’s RV always smelled of weed, food, and dogs, but mostly weed.

Chloe didn’t mind it.

Getting into the RV was a quiet affair and Chloe just as easily set herself down near Frank but on the opposite side of the RV, on one of the passenger seats.

Frank just kind of grunted and started his RV, soon pulling out of the driveway and presumably heading towards Blackwell.

Frank spoke first, after some moments that were entirely too thick and tense for Chloe’s liking.

“You look like shit. What happened to your eye?”

Chloe blinked.

Right.

Shower wiped off the makeup Rachel put on her – her mother even had a little moment about it, too.

The immediate excuse of _I fell_ or something similar came ready for Chloe’s mind, but … Rachel.

 _You can’t let him get away with this, Chloe_.

She frowned a little.

“Drew North – some idiot jock at Blackwell – punched me out.”

Frank grunted and sighed, slowly shaking his head.

“You don’t say … well ain’t that some coiniq-a-dink.”

Chloe blinked.

“Huh?”

Frank just looked at the road.

“I have a job for you, Chloe. Turns out it involves Drew, too.”

He briefly looked over to her and Chloe just kept on blinking.

“A … job? Drew?”

Like she was in the mob or something?

Frank scoffed and looked back to the road.

“Don’t sound too confused. Yeah. A job. I need you to break into Drew’s room and see if he has any large stashes of cash around. My … business partner, thinks he’s playing us.”

He briefly looked to Chloe again,

“And no one plays us.”

Chloe blinked and blinked, slowly crossing her arms and considering.

“You want me to break into his room and steal a shitload of cash? Uhm. … what? I’m --- _Frank_. That’s …”

She didn’t really know how to articulate her desire to not want to do this.

Frank grunted.

“I know you can do it. I taught you how to lockpick stuff for chrissakes.”

Chloe sighed a little.

He did, of course, but, still.

“I’m not a … criminal, or something.”

Frank shrugged.

“Think of it more like … being a superhero. Sometimes the laws just ain’t good enough for the shit you gotta do.”

Chloe scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Frank, I ---”

Frank pointedly interrupted her by reaching into the back of his waist line and pulling out a gun.

Chloe’s eyes of course went right to it, but Frank just placed it quietly, but very slowly into his lap.

“--- I don’t imagine you’ve got my money for what _you_ owe me, either.”

Shit.

There it was.

Only … now Frank was involving a gun? Or at least quietly threatening her with it? Or just reminding her he had one?

Fuck.

Chloe’s eyes nervously went between the gun and Frank.

“Uh, n-no, not … not really.”

Frank shook his head a little.

“I guess we have a problem, then. And I guess you have a way to get yourself out of that problem. Get me his money and your problem goes away too. Imagine that.”

Chloe just kept looking between Frank and the gun.

What the hell was going on?

This didn’t sound anything like Frank.

Frank was cool.

Frank didn’t care if she had a couple hundred to her name – it was just weed, after all.

She’d get him his money, eventually.

Now he was, what, hiring people to act as enforcers and threatening his clients with guns?

What had gotten into him …?

“Uhhh …”

Shit, Chloe sounded a little nervous.

But this was … serious.

Frank grunted.

“Not the answer I wanted to hear, girlie. Either get me your money or get me his. Choice is yours.”

Fuck.

Chloe looked down at the RV’s floor for a few seconds and fidgeted.

Standing up to Drew for bulling Nathan was one thing – even if it was clearly stupid of her to do with the way he sucker punched her, there was some moral clarity in that situation.

Drew was in the wrong, Chloe wasn’t.

Here, though … what would a good person do?

It would be nice to have her debt forgiven so she could get some weed easily again …

And Drew kind of deserved it, didn’t he?

He was a dumb, bullying jock.

What did he need the money for?

What if Drew found her in his room …?

What would happen to her, then …?

Nothing good.

She frowned.

“Frank … _c’mon_. Be reasonable, man - what if Drew finds me? Or – the police or - I’m not – going to _jail_ for this. At least -”

Frank just grunted and pointedly patted at his gun with a free hand.

“- You’re not in any position to make demands, girlie.”

The two went quiet.

Chloe of course looked to his gun, and realized just how much their relationship was different, now – at least, when Frank was being serious.

What the hell had gotten into him …?

Frank realized Chloe was still considering, so he sighed a bit, sparing her a brief look.

“And whatever the police will do to you I promise will be _nothing_ compared to what Damon will do to you. Dude’s a fuckin’ monster.”

Chloe shuddered.

Way to put a fine point on things.

She really didn’t have a choice in this, did she?

She owed Frank money, and now, he was apparently becoming a hard-ass about the money.

She just … had to make sure she didn’t get caught, and this would all blow over, and she could just avoid Frank, or … something.

Chloe sighed uneasily.

 “Okay … I’ll … do it. I’ll see if he has anything.”

As if to reminder her that indeed his gun was specifically to threaten her with, Frank quietly and slowly moved the gun back into hiding in his waist line again.

“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.”

Man, this sucked.

Now Frank was acting weird and giving her even more shit to think about.

Frank hesitated for a few seconds, then gently cleared his throat.

“And … don’t get punched out again. It makes you look ridiculous.”

To put Frank’s weird attitude in even greater contrast, here he was like Chloe remembered her – a little unserious and a little playful.

Chloe almost got whiplash from him being a serious drug runner threatening her with a gun one moment and then cracking a joke about her black eye the next.

Still, she grunted, and uncrossed her arms, hoping the difficult part of this conversation was over with.

This was much more pleasant to talk about, at least.

“C’mon, Frank, you know I don’t lose fights. This was, um … special.”

Frank briefly looked to her with an eyebrow raised.

“Special?”

Chloe nodded.

“Rachel Amber – popular pretty girl on campus - tried to break it up. He uh, sucker punched me when I looked at her.”

Frank scoffed.

“He smelled weakness.”

Chloe frowned.

He briefly looked at her again.

“What’d I tell you about this shit? You wanna fight, you gotta think like a man. The moment someone shows weakness … you gotta go for the jugular.”

Chloe sighed and finally looked away from him for the first time since this conversation started.

His advice had served her pretty well so far, but, still.

Rachel wasn’t a weakness, was she?

“Yeah, yeah, yeah …”

She sighed and looked back to him.

“I’m telling you Frank, it was a one-off thing. It won’t happen again.”

Frank just shrugged.

“Good. _That’s_ what I like to hear. Now just get me money and everything will be gravy.”

Chloe grunted.

This really wasn’t the tone of conversation she wanted to keep having – she already agreed to do his dumb job.

Chloe tried to find something else more pleasant that’d probably distract him away from it, like –

Chloe’s eyes briefly went around his RV, and spotted some doggy treats –

She smiled and looked back to Frank.

“Yeah, yeah … where’s Pompidou, anyway?”

Pompidou, Frank’s adorable little puppy.

Frank very carefully looked over to Chloe for about as long as he ever had during this ride but remembered himself and looked back to the road with only a small swerve.

“In the back. With my business partner.”

Chloe blinked.

“Your business partner?”

Frank nodded.

“Yeah. Big asshole. Damon. You met him already.”

Damon.

That name –

Chloe blinked only a couple dozen times.

The guy from the mill who pulled a fucking knife on her for taking a beer?

Holy shit.

“ _That_ asshole is your _business partner_?”

Frank shrugged.

“Yup.”

Shit.

That made things make a whole lot of sense.

Frank was –

No.

Chloe almost stood up but remembered they were still driving, so she just crossed her arms and frowned.

“ _Frank_. That dude is a total creep. You’re ---”

Frank once again looked to Chloe and his expression was so serious it cut Chloe off.

“--- _very good friends_ with him. And you’re not going to say another bad thing about him. Capiche?”

Chloe sighed wearily and slowly slumped back into her seat, uncrossing her arms and looking off to the road.

Whatever.

“Whatever.”

Fuck.

What if Frank became just another big asshole like Damon?

What if Frank kept trying to rope her into being some kind of enforcer for her?

Is this the path her life was on?

Because she wasn’t doing good at school, or whatever?

It kept her pensive and more than a little worried.

After what felt like too long, Frank eventually looked to Chloe briefly again.

He didn’t say anything while he did this.

Only when he looked back to the road did he open his mouth again.

“And I talk shit, but … Damon’s not that bad.”

Chloe blinked.

“He … threatened me with a knife.”

Frank shrugged.

“You were being kind of a little shit, Chloe.”

Chloe frowned.

Frank just sighed and shook his head.

“I knew he wasn’t going to do shit, anyway. He’s just … very tough. We go way back.”

Chloe kept her frown.

Frank hesitated for a bit longer.

“And if you like Pompi, you ought to thank Damon for him.”

Chloe blinked.

“What?”

Frank smirked, a bit.

“Yeah. He has a soft spot for dogs. He’s a real hard-ass on people but he can’t stand people abusing dogs.”

Frank spoke in this slightly distant, very obviously endeared manner.

Affectionate.

Well – they were friends, weren’t they?

It suddenly just clicked in Chloe’s mind that Damon was in the back of Frank’s RV – meaning his _room_ , early in the morning, probably sleeping.

Chloe knew exactly what Frank’s room looked like.

There was just one bed in there.

Damon was sleeping in Frank’s bed … with Frank’s dog … the dog that was gifted to him, by Damon, apparently.

Chloe was very obviously thinking through this and not saying much, which was fine, because Frank was okay with the silence, anyway.

Eventually, he pulled up to Blackwell and fully looked over to Chloe, leaning back in his seat now that the road wasn’t demanding his attention.

“All I’m sayin’ is there’s more than meets the eye with most people. You see someone who’s just _dying_ to be seen a certain way … they’re probably not like that behind closed doors.”

Frank had this odd way of sprinkling in life advice, with almost comical predictability.

But still, this piece of advice in particular felt remarkably applicable to the stuff Chloe was going through with Rachel right now.

And hell, apparently even Damon and Frank, too.

“Yeah … thanks for the ride, Frank.”

She got up to leave.

Frank just grunted an acknowledgement.

Chloe almost just walked out of the RV as that was that but paused at the bottom step leading out.

“Frank?”

Frank looked over to her with a thoughtful grunt.

“Friends don't pull guns on each other. In case you were, y'know, wondering.”

Frank blinked and opened his mouth but Chloe didn’t give him time to respond, immediately leaving the RV and stepping onto campus with a deep sigh.

Wow.

What a start to her morning.

Dreaming of making out with Rachel, writing a letter to Max for the first time in like ever, getting a job to act as an enforcer to Frank, and … ugh.

 

This day was already getting too real, so Chloe decided to just try and avoid everyone and everything and do the motions required of her for the day.

That included not talking to Rachel too much.

But near the end of her day, after Chloe had successfully spent the entire day just thinking about this crap with Drew and Frank and her dream about Rachel, her phone vibrated.

Chloe, of course, sat in the back of class, and even though she didn’t really text much, she knew how to look at her phone without raising the ire of the teacher.

_hey you’re in chemistry rn right? can you get me my pencil case and bring it to drama practice? it should be on the back right table xoxo_

Chloe raised an eyebrow, looking over to the oddly-out-of-place pencil case that had been neatly tucked against the wall.

Why was that there?

There’s no way in hell Rachel sat at the back of the class.

Chloe’s eyes went back to the phone.

_can’t you get it urself im kind of busy_

Busy? No she wasn’t.

Chloe wasn’t sure where that came from.

A response came quickly, again.

_:(_

Chloe blinked.

Was this the virtual equivalent of sad dog eyes?

Damn emojis …

_c’mon_

Another response.

_:( :( :(_

Chloe just about groaned but tried to keep quiet since she was still in class.

_ugh fine_

When class ended, Chloe unceremoniously shoved the pencil case into her bag and with a too-weary of a sigh, decided to detour to drama class.

Now that Chloe had given it some thought, she knew she was going to break into Drew’s room during his football practice, right after school – now – so that there wasn’t any chance of him being in the room.

Practice lasted a while, though.

And Rachel apparently wanted this pencil case, for whatever reason.

Chloe could spare the time, maybe.

 

Entering drama class for the third time was exactly no less awkward than any of the times prior.

She was still looked at like some kind of leper from the other kids.

And Chloe sighed, instantly regretting coming into here and looking away, but …

“Yay! There you are!”

Things were different when Rachel bounded across the room and hastily stepped in front of Chloe.

She hugged her again, which Chloe still didn’t quite know how to handle, and just kind of awkwardly let her hands sit down on her sides until Rachel was done.

Still, she smiled a little when Rachel looked up to her.

“I got your, um, thing.”

Rachel blinked.

“Oh, right.”

Rachel quickly looked back to the rest of the class, and Chloe had clearly interrupted a scene.

Not that she cared.

Rachel looked back and just smiled.

“After this?”

Chloe noticed, again, that Rachel was still in that goddamn costume, but kept her eyes at eye-level for now.

“Rachel, I ---”

Rachel just smiled and obnoxiously took Chloe’s hand to drag her more into the drama class.

Chloe frowned, a little, but allowed herself to be dragged to a seat anyway.

“It’ll be quick, I promise!”

 

Still, as Rachel got back up on the mock-stage with the others and the slightly-annoyed Mr. Keaton resumed the scene, Chloe’s eyes were anywhere but on Rachel, thinking about anything but her.

Rachel apparently didn’t even want this stupid pencil case …

Was Chloe just going to let her drag her around like this?

Even if they were friends, now?

Chloe had things to do, now, serious things, with serious, adult consequences … ugh.

 

Rachel realized immediately but kept noticing that Chloe just wasn’t looking at her.

Her eyes didn’t do the same thing as yesterday, and she almost seemed to forcefully avoid looking at the costume too much.

Even now, when Rachel was practicing, and making obviously revealing gestures in the costume as she performed … Chloe wasn’t looking at her.

Why?

Was yesterday a fluke?

… no.

Rachel knew what she saw.

This was something else.

Chloe had to be distracted by something unrelated to Rachel.

Shit.

Chloe was Rachel’s friend and here she was just dragging her along to see if Chloe still ogled her – and she probably had something else on her mind to deal with.

After this practice scene ended, but well before practice itself was done with, Rachel politely excused herself and took Chloe out of the class room.

Chloe didn’t resist again, probably happy to be rid of the room.

Whence they were in the hallways, Rachel quickly looked up and down the halls to assure they’d have some privacy, and satisfied that they were, she looked over to Chloe.

She wasn’t smiling, this time.

“What’s wrong?”

Chloe shrugged and just looked away from her.

“Nothing.”

Rachel frowned a little and stepped right in front of Chloe.

That got her attention, at least.

“ _Chloe_. You’re a terrible liar.”

Chloe groaned and looked off to the ceiling with her eyes closed for a few seconds before back down to Rachel.

“Okay, fine. Something … _is_ … wrong. It’s just – I don’t know, kinda serious?”

Rachel noticed Chloe still kept her eye contact and not once looked down to her costume.

The more Chloe did this the more Rachel was sure it was intentional, which probably meant she _couldn’t_ look at the costume, since it’d do the same thing as yesterday.

No.

Focus.

Rachel evened out her expression and crossed her arms.

“Can I help?”

Chloe blinked.

“Rach, I –“

Chloe looked at her in the eyes, though, and Rachel just smiled warmly.

Chloe blinked once, twice, then sighed again and slumped somewhat.

“… maybe. You can’t tell anyone about this.”

Rachel nodded pleasantly and did the mouth-zipping gesture before looking up and down the halls again.

Chloe followed her eyes, too.

When they returned to each other, Chloe hesitated for a few seconds, then uncrossed her arms.

“I … owe a drug dealer some money.”

Rachel blinked only about a million times.

Chloe saw the less-than-stellar reaction, but decided to rip the Band-Aid off now in one burst,

“And … I kinda … maybe … sorta? have to break into Drew’s room to steal money from him to pay it off. Since my plug thinks he’s being played.”

Rachel blinked again.

“… oh. Is that all?”

It sounded kind of dazed, though, because, _holy shit_.

Chloe at least found humor in this response and laughed gently, crossing her arms again and kind of leaning forward and moving her chest from side to side as she rested against a nearby wall.

“… yeaaaaaah. It’s … a long story.”

Rachel quietly brought a hand up to rub at her own face and work through all of this.

Wow.

Is this the shit Chloe just dealt with day to day?

And Rachel was over here trying to see if Chloe was still checking her out?

No wonder Chloe was distracted.

She had real, tangible shit to do, of course, and all Rachel had was just stupid games, like everyone else in her stupid social circle.

No.

This felt cosmically-aligned.

Rachel could do something about this.

“Wow. You’re … serious, Chloe.”

She smiled, though, and it sounded endeared, which made Chloe smile a little, too.

But then Rachel turned and started walking.

“Let’s go.”

Chloe blinked.

“Let’s go?”

Rachel just nodded, not even looking back or bothering to change out of her costume,

“Drew is only going to be in conditioning for a little bit longer. If we’re going to do this … we have to do it now.”

Off Rachel went and Chloe just simply didn’t know how to handle it.

She started following after her, of course, since she had a point, of course, but … still, damn, Rachel.

“C’mon, Rachel, this isn’t --- Drew isn’t like Wells or whatever and this is ---”

Rachel looked back but kept on walking,

“--- this is serious. I know.”

Truth be told, Rachel was somewhat uncertain and nervous on the inside.

This was easily the kind of stuff that could get her in trouble and derail her future plans.

But at the same time, these kinds of real, serious things to do were exactly what was missing from her life.

No adventure.

No drama.

Just actors and pretend.

But she knew Chloe wasn’t like that.

She knew, in her gut, that Chloe had a good, serious reason for being tangled up in this mess, and Rachel was not about to let her get punched out again just because Rachel had her head in her ass and was busy thinking about things instead of doing.

No.

This was scary and uncertain and dangerous.

But bravery isn’t about never being scared.

Bravery is being scared and doing it, anyway.

That simple response seemed to placate Chloe for a while – at least until they were just out of the dorms.

Then Chloe stopped her again and crossed her arms.

“ _Rachel_.”

She sounded kind of annoyed, so with a small sigh, Rachel turned around and crossed her arms, too.

But she could never be annoyed for that long looking at Chloe’s dorky face, even if the shiner reminded her of past failures.

“What’s up?”

Chloe frowned and looked down, and up, and down, and up, and tried to start a sentence once or twice and eventually just uncrossed her arms.

Finally, she found her voice.

“I don’t care if I do dumb illegal shit because I got my ass in the red when I shouldn’t have but – you – you’re better than this, you have –“

Rachel frowned a bit and shook her head,

“- stop saying that, Chloe, _you’re_ –”

Chloe remained firm,

“ ** _No_**. Just … listen, okay?”

Rachel blinked.

That might have been the first hard and firm ‘no’ Chloe had ever given her.

Her frown didn’t go away this time, but she allowed Chloe her time to find out what she wanted to say.

Eventually,

“This is like … I could-go-to- _jail-_ if-I-get-caught bad. And … you don’t deserve that risk, just because I made some mistake.”

Rachel sighed a bit too tiredly and eventually uncrossed her arms and closed her eyes.

Chloe was exaggerating a little, but, she still pressed on,

“I don’t know what you think I’m worth – hell, I don’t even know what _I_ think I’m worth, but – I know jail isn’t worth me.”

Chloe finally sounded done, and Rachel finally opened her eyes.

“We’re not going to get caught, okay? We’ll just get the money and pop out.”

She turned to face the dorm doors, and hesitated, slowly looking back to Chloe again.

“And good friends are worth _anything_ in the world. If Max needed you to help you break into someone’s room because she needed the money, would you hesitate?”

Chloe thought about it, and eventually stepped closer to Rachel, and uncrossed her arms.

“… no.”

Rachel looked forward.

“Because you’re a good friend.”

She pushed the door open.

“And sometimes, being a good friend means you need to help bury some bodies.”

 

Chloe had to admit, she liked the way Rachel’s words sounded.

She just didn’t want to think of trusting someone that much again, letting them take on the same kind of burdens she did with Max and vice versa … what if Rachel disappeared? What would that do to Chloe?

Wouldn’t it be easier to just keep Rachel at arm’s length?

But Rachel kept walking forwards, and Chloe knew the answer, deep down in her gut, was no.

None of this wouldn’t happen if Chloe didn’t swallow her inner doubts and go be with Rachel on the dance floor, or bare her soul about Max to her, or –

Chloe knew she was getting attached to Rachel.

And she knew, ultimately, that’s what she wanted.

And it seemed like Rachel wanted that, too.

 

It put a nervous, but excited feeling in Chloe’s stomach thinking that Rachel wanted to not just be one of Chloe’s friends, but one of her _good_ friends.

Just how far did she want to go?

Chloe didn’t let herself get too far ahead, but … she did let herself watch Rachel’s hair again, and her costume, and the way she confidently strolled forward.

It helped her to take her mind off of things and just focus on what they were doing in the here and now.

It reminded her of how Max could just make her forget about everything, too.

Fuck.

 

Entering the dorm, they almost immediately ran into Eliot, who was learning against one of the walls and occasionally look up to the doors.

“Oh. Hey.”

Chloe blinked and sort of desperately hoped he didn’t overhear any of that conversation, and … wow, what a way to put a fine point on how far apart they had drifted.

Rachel just gave him a pleasant wave and Chloe decided that was a good trick to avoid a conversation, but – of course.

Eliot frowned.

“What are you guys doing in here, anyway?”

Groan.

Rachel and Chloe both stopped to look at him.

Rachel crossed her arms, Chloe just looked away after a few seconds.

Rachel noticed this, and Chloe’s body posture overall, too.

She noticed the way Eliot was looking at Chloe, too …

“We’re visiting a friend.”

Not, actually, a lie, coming from Rachel, but not the whole truth either.

Eliot blinked at this and looked over to Rachel.

“Chloe doesn’t have any friends on this floor.”

Rachel blinked herself, but Chloe just groaned and finally looked over to Eliot.

“Eliot. I do. Just … chill.”

Eliot looked back to Chloe and crossed his arms.

“I _am_ chill. But … fine. Whatever. Have fun, I guess.”

Rachel looked at him carefully, a little suspiciously, but for once Chloe was leading Rachel the fuck away from Eliot and didn’t even look back.

Rachel knew there was probably some kind of story, there, with how Eliot was acting … but there were other things to focus on.

As they rounded the corner, Chloe got down in front of Drew’s door and started to fuss with it – Rachel realized she was picking the lock, eventually.

“You can pick locks?”

Chloe just shrugged.

“I can do a lot of things …”

Rachel hummed appreciatively.

It made sense, of course.

What Rachel should have been doing, were she used to this kind of thing, was play look out.

But she was busy paying attention to Chloe, so what neither of them noticed was Eliot surreptitiously looking around the corner.

And what neither of them noticed, of course, was him gasping quietly and going back into his room to text Drew.

First Rachel drags Chloe where she doesn’t want to be, then she gets her a black eye, now they’re breaking into rooms - Eliot had to do something about this, before it was too late.

 

\---

 

Damon saw Drew leave his practice, early.

Perfect.

 

\---

 

Entering Drew’s room, Chloe was immediately reminded of the fact boy’s rooms always smelled of BO and quietly gagged.

Rachel didn’t find the experience any more pleasant, but it wasn’t the first time she had been in here.

Drew was her friend, after all.

They both looked around the room, and Chloe immediately took to picking the lock on a chest near Drew’s bed.

“Score. It’s gotta be in here.”

It was sort of an obvious place to put money – too obvious, even for a lurch like Drew, so Rachel thought it must be somewhere else.

“Maybe. I’ll see if he hid it somewhere … better.”

It was a somewhat believable excuse to snoop.

In truth, Rachel was worried, since Drew was just not acting like himself, lately, and there had to be a reason why.

Chloe said she owed a drug dealer money, which while surprising on the face of it, wasn’t enough to explain how radically his behavior shifted.

It did make her wonder just how many people were involved with drugs, though, since Drew was one of the last people she thought would take them.

She still didn’t quite know what to think about taking Drew’s money to replay Chloe’s debt.

And Chloe didn’t, either.

 

About the time Chloe got the chest open and was rummaging around in it, Rachel found a small, unmarked envelope underneath Drew’s bed, tucked underneath his bedframe with some tape.

Not a bad place to hide money, though still a little predictable.

Inside, however, Rachel didn’t find money.

 

Chloe found money, though.

“Fuckin … holy shit. Frank was … _holy shit_.”

Rachel looked at Chloe briefly, but was more importantly opening the letters out of the envelope and reading them.

“Chloe …”

Chloe got up from her sitting position and approached Rachel.

“It’s really all here – we can pay back all of Drew’s debt and ---”

Rachel turned and shoved the envelope and its letters into Chloe’s chest.

“--- we can’t take the money.”

Chloe blinked.

“We can’t? You were the one who –”

Rachel frowned slightly.

“--- _read_. He’s keeping the money for a reason.”

Chloe blinked again but carefully looked down to the letters Rachel had shoved into her chest and started to read them.

“His dad …”

Rachel kept her frown.

“I _knew_ something was up with him. His dad, Chloe! _Ugh_. I’m so stupid. I should have known --- but we can’t take this money.”

Chloe kept reading the letter.

Drew’s dad was bouncing out of temporary homes and shelters – he was effectively homeless.

Shit.

Chloe knew pretty well what a couple thousand dollars could mean to someone with nothing.

She frowned herself and looked up.

“So, what, we just ---”

 

Drew barged into his room.

 

Dumbly, Chloe and Rachel both turned to face him, which meant Drew got a quick and easy look at Chloe’s hands, which had both his money and some letters and –

He frowned, and barreled towards her –

But so did Rachel, standing beside her and frowning intently.

“ _Don’t_ touch her.”

Drew looked down to one of his hands that had been raised, then over to Rachel, then back to Chloe’s black eye, and just groaned.

He looked around his room, then quickly moved to close his door and get close to the two of them again.

Chloe defensively brought the valuable items behind her back, even if it meant she would be defenseless to another sucker punch, it at least meant he couldn’t just grab the money and go.

Drew clenched his fists and breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself down.

“You have … some explaining to do.”

Rachel frowned, but was happy Drew at least had the presence of mind to not escalating things again, though she did notice Chloe’s visceral frown.

She probably wasn’t too happy at Drew, and Rachel didn’t blame her.

Still.

Rachel sighed and tried to level out her expression to avoid this getting worse than it already was.

“Relax, Drew. We were here to take the money to pay off your debt, but, … we know now you have a reason for keeping the money.”

Drew briefly looked to Rachel.

“Damn right I do.”

Before back to Chloe,

“Look – Chloe – I didn’t … _mean_ to hurt you but – this money is – I _need_ it.”

Chloe kept her frown but sighed herself.

She brought the hand that was holding the letters and envelope out front.

“… for your dad.”

Drew’s fists unclenched and he slumped a bit.

“Yeah …”

His voice sounded drained, too.

Still, something was bugging Rachel.

“But – _drugs_ , Drew? Seriously?”

Drew looked to Rachel with a frown.

“You don’t understand, Ms. Princess. I –”

He brought a hand up to pat at his chest,

“- I’m not _happy_ or – _proud_ – of what I did, but, I’ll do _whatever_ it takes to keep my dad off the streets.”

Someone else banged on the door.

Chloe and Rachel looked off to it, but Drew had a pretty good idea who was behind it, anyway.

“… and I do mean _whatever_.”

Chloe quietly hid the money and letters in her waistline and crossed her arms.

She had a feeling this was about to get even worse … somehow.

 

One more bang on the door, then whoever was behind it tried to open it and found it was unlocked.

Drew still didn’t turn around as Damon entered the room.

Damon froze briefly when he saw both Chloe and Rachel were in the room, but it didn’t stop him from entering the room and closing the door behind him.

He walked up right behind Drew.

“You two. Beat it. I have business with Drew. _Alone_.”

Rachel, however –

Rachel knew that face.

She remembered –

She took a step forward and frowned deeply, viscerally.

“We’re not moving an inch.”

Chloe and Drew blinked and carefully looked at Rachel.

Damon just scoffed in disbelief, then thoughtlessly shoved Drew to the side, cracked his neck, and started walking towards Rachel.

“What was that, girlie? It sounded an awful lot like disrespect.”

Chloe thought about what she would do –

But thinking was too slow.

Instead of thinking, she stepped in front of Rachel, and tried to use her prior experience with this dude to keep him calm, since she did _not_ want a knife pulled on Rachel.

“R-relax. Um. S-sir. We just – Drew’s our friend, and we don’t want him to get hurt.”

Chloe sounded a little nervous, but she was actually _doing_ something this time, which made her feel weirdly scared and empowered at the same time.

This at least had Damon’s eyebrow raising and him stopping.

He looked between the still-angry Rachel and Chloe – who he remembered too and was amused.

At least _she_ learned not to fuck with him.

He scoffed.

“Don’t worry. No one will get hurt so long as I get my money.”

Chloe breathed in a cold and uneasy breath.

Rachel blinked and her expression changed considerably to something more akin to thought.

Drew remained resolved throughout all of this – he’d already accepted his fate.

He didn’t even flinch when he had been shoved earlier, and now, he didn’t respond meaningfully when Damon stared at him, either.

Instead, he just calmly looked at the two, and recognized how convenient this actually was that Chloe had stolen the money.

“… go. I’ll be okay.”

Chloe and Rachel exchanged a brief wordless look.

Rachel looked to Chloe’s backside where the money was and back up to Chloe, then they both looked to Damon.

They too, understood they could just leave with the money and return it later, Chloe’s debt or no.

And this way, there’d be no chance Damon would take it.

How weird context can change how stealing feels, morally.

Stealing to repay Drew’s debt and keep this creepy asshole off of him? Dubious.

Stealing to help Drew’s dad get back on his feet? Yeah, she could do that, especially when it was Drew wanted.

“Okay. We’re going.”

All eyes were on Chloe, briefly, but all agreed with the sentiment, albeit for different reasons.

 

Still, when they left, and the door closed, they could hear Damon raising his voice, and Drew groaning.

The empathy was enough to make them both reconsider about the money in Chloe’s waistline.

Was his suffering worth –

“Hey! You two! C’mere, quick!”

They both had been exhaustively rubbing at their faces under the weight of the moral situation, but suddenly looked up to see Eliot peeking around the corner.

“Quick! Before that creepy dude comes out again.”

Chloe and Rachel both frowned, simultaneously.

How did he know about that?

They looked to each other, and crossed their arms together, but Chloe stepped forward first.

“Eliot …”

Eliot just disappeared around the corner.

“No time! C’mon!”

Chloe sighed and uncrossed her arms.

She briefly and wordlessly looked back to Rachel, then started after Eliot.

Rachel figured this was Chloe’s problem to handle … but she was still going to be around to be a helping hand, so she followed after her too.

They soon ended up in Eliot’s room, but Chloe stayed by the door, and Rachel followed suit.

Eliot walked to his bed and sat down on it.

“Phew. I can’t believe he just let you two go.”

Chloe groaned and took a step into his room.

“Eliot. Just – how did you know about him?”

Chloe sounded uncertain, again, but … she was actually doing something this time, which made her feel both nervous and empowered.

Rachel quietly watched her, ready to step in if necessary.

Eliot shrugged.

“I saw him follow behind Drew, but like, lag a bit. I called campus security on him but figured they wouldn’t get to here before he got to you two in Drew’s room.”

Chloe and Rachel’s frown became more severe.

It took Chloe a second to articulate this, but … damnit, Eliot.

“And … how did you know we were in Drew’s room?”

Eliot blinked and hesitated,

“I –”

He stood up.

“- Chloe I, I just – I’m so worried about you, lately, with everything going on, and I see you picking Drew’s lock and I _know_ he doesn’t like anyone in his room so I –“

Chloe suddenly felt very violated and shuddered a little,

“You were _watching_ us?”

Rachel took a step closer and placed a hand on Chloe’s shoulder, and for once, the touch was simply and flatly appreciated, and Chloe didn’t jump at it.

It was just the kind of comfort she needed.

Eliot finally frowned, himself.

“Don’t sound like you’re scared! I’m _helping_! I’m _protecting_ you, Chloe!”

Chloe groaned.

“No, Eliot, you’re really … you’re really not. I don’t need your help.”

Eliot slapped at some part of his pants, which would have made Chloe pretty uncomfortable, if Rachel wasn’t _right there_.

“No! I --- what do you want me to do, Chloe? Honestly? What am I supposed to do when my girlfriend just – slips away?”

Rachel blinked.

There were certainly rumors that Eliot and Chloe were dating, but every time she saw them interact, it was so painfully awkward she simply ruled it out as dumb gossip.

Chloe went quiet for a while and looked down with her eyes closed, which at least seemed to let Eliot calm down a little bit, too.

Eventually, Chloe looked up, and she was so scared to say this, but at the same time, it felt so empowering.

 

“Eliot. I’m not your girlfriend.”

 

Rachel felt the temperature of the room drop several degrees instantly and it looked like the words had physically punched Eliot in the gut.

After some processing, he just sort of fell back onto his bed, and slouched down painfully onto himself.

“… oh. You’re not?”

Chloe both appreciated and hated this reaction, since it tugged at her heart to see him so obviously hurt, but it also wasn’t the worst way he could have reacted.

Still, she sighed and uncrossed her arms.

“… no, Eliot. I’m … I’m sorry. Even with – what we did, it’s just … no. I just – don’t, feel like that, you know?”

Eliot processed this for a little bit and sighed wearily himself.

“… no. I don’t know.”

He looked up.

“But I think I understand. Just … leave. Please. I need to … think.”

Both Chloe and Rachel were happy to oblige, but they both noticed a picture of Chloe on display on Eliot’s computer.

Next to some older pictures of the two of them together, anyway.

In Rachel’s eyes at least, they seemed happy in them, but … obviously times have changed.

It kept Chloe pretty pensive until they were out of his room and left the dorm.

 

It was only outside that Rachel decided to broach it.

“So … you wanna … talk about that stuff?”

Chloe groaned and kept walking.

“No. I don’t.”

Rachel smirked a little and followed after her with an amused sound.

“Bullshit. I bet you totally do.”

Despite it all, Chloe couldn’t help a small smile.

“Okay, I totally do … how did you know?”

Rachel pulled up beside her as they kept walking.

“… isn’t it obvious?”

Chloe blinked and looked over to her.

“… no?”

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“Use your brain, dummy. I know because I’ve been in your shoes.”

Chloe blinked again and looked forward.

“Oh.”

It came out as a sigh.

They kept walking.

“Yeah … but it was a while ago.”

Chloe nodded.

“Sex just screws everything up, huh?”

Rachel blinked only about a million times.

“What – I – _no_ – I didn’t, no – not – not _that_ – I meant –“

Chloe looked over to Rachel again, and it was kind of cute to see her run her mouth like that for once.

She smiled a little.

“Oh. Well that’s what I’m going through.”

Still, it was playful.

Rachel blinked a few more times and shook her head.

She wasn’t exactly probing for information if Chloe was still a virgin, but … out she just came with it, anyway.

“No. I’m saying boys who like – want to shield you. Do things for you.”

Chloe scoffed, but kept her smile and playful tone.

“Yeah. Those suck. _Girls_ who want to do that, on the other hand …”

Rachel blinked, and smiled wide herself.

“Smooth.”

They shared a smile, then Rachel pointedly took Chloe’s hand as they continued to walk, and Chloe didn’t flinch or jump when she did.

Still, Rachel wasn’t quite done, and after a few seconds of enjoying Chloe’s hand, Rachel forced the issue again.

“I just hope he doesn’t get any weirder. My ‘lovebird’ is thousands of miles away. Yours, however …”

Chloe just groaned and shook her head.

“You’re telling me. Was he your only?”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

That information was pretty carefully guarded, but so was whether or not Chloe was a virgin, she supposed.

Rachel quickly looked around and decided this was private enough, anyway.

“My only boyfriend? Yeah. Girlfriends, though? None … yet.”

There was something in Rachel’s ‘yet’ that Chloe tried her best not to read into, but – it was basically impossible.

That was a flirt, or at least a tease.

It made Chloe blush a little and look away from Rachel for a few seconds, only just now reminding herself she was still in that damn revealing skin-tight costume.

“Hah, jeez … was it serious? With him?”

Chloe tried to recover her shame by redirecting it back to the prior topic and looking back at her, but Rachel already saw the blush, and noticed Chloe’s eyes finally venturing to her body once again.

“Mmmmm, the great Chloe Price, so interested in my love life.”

Chloe blinked.

The two stopped and turned to face each other, so Rachel could smile up at Chloe again.

She actually didn’t need to think too long and hard if she trusted Chloe with this information.

“No. It wasn’t. But I know I’ll find something magical soon.”

She pointedly turned and started walking again, releasing Chloe’s hand.

“Now … onwards to drama class.”

She smirked and looked back.

“Then, your place. You’re not leaving my _sight_ until Drew has his money back.”

Chloe scoffed, but rubbed at the back of her neck and briefly looked away.

Rachel was still a virgin and hadn’t had anything seriously romantic yet – who would have thought?

And that Chloe was allowed that information, of all people.

Maybe it wasn’t surprising.

Not after today.

Chloe looked down and smirked herself.

“Are you going to change somewhere in between there?”

Rachel just giggled.

Chloe did, too, and started after her.

She still couldn’t keep her eyes off of Rachel, though.

 

What a day.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe has girl problems.
> 
> Rachel has girl problems.
> 
> Chloe has step-dad problems.
> 
> Rachel has dad problems.
> 
> It's destiny, maybe.

The first time it happened, it went by Chloe so quickly she hardly had the presence of mind to respond to it.

“Cute?”

But respond she did, anyway.

Rachel simply smiled.

“Yeah. I really like those shoes. You’re very cute in them.”

In isolation, it meant nothing, of course – just a simple compliment from a friend.

The context, though … with the way Rachel smiled, the slight teasing infliction of her voice, the way her eyebrow just barely raised and danced when Chloe responded in kind.

It was easy to read a lot into it.

So Chloe tried not to.

Rachel was just being friendly.

 

The second time it happened, now a few days into their friendship, Chloe gave it more thought.

Rachel hummed appreciatively.

“Hm, I didn’t even _know_ you had a beanie. It’s ---”

Chloe turned to face her, and they had been walking together to somewhere or another, and thought she knew where Rachel was going with this.

She was being friendly, again.

Chloe smirked, almost.

“--- cute?”

Rachel repeated her humming noise, too, raising a hand up to adjust Chloe’s beanie slightly.

“I was going to say ‘hot’, but … yeah, cute, too.”

 _Hot_.

Chloe gaped her mouth and surely blushed a little at such a direct compliment and flirt, but Rachel just giggled and started walking off again, leaving her to just process stupidly like that for a few seconds on her own.

For a while now, Chloe had been trying to not read into Rachel’s actions, here and there.

A little compliment, a little flirt, a little suggestion –

It just seemed like that was who Rachel was, as a person: boundlessly playful, and a little flirty.

But how persistent they were, and how Rachel could clearly see Chloe’s reaction to it and _know_ where her mind must be going …

This wasn’t an accident, right?

Was Rachel into her, too?

“You coming, dummy?”

Chloe finally closed her dumb gaping mouth, shoved her hands into her jacket, and started after Rachel.

Was she over thinking this?

Or maybe she was _under_ thinking this, and Rachel was only going to get less subtle.

Chloe wasn’t sure which she preferred, but one of them put an excited, nervous feeling in her stomach that made her just want to jump up and down on her boots and giggle.

But she didn’t, since she was Chloe.

 

The third time it happened, Rachel was thoroughly conflicted.

Chloe was less so.

“Man. This homework really fuckin’ sucks.”

Rachel’s conflict didn’t keep her from action, though.

She just smirked.

“Well. I have this friend, you know, who’s a total knockout in the looks department, by the way … I hear she’s pretty good at chemistry.”

Chloe’s once-upon-a-time favorite subject.

Unsubtle.

Chloe blushed a little and rubbed at the back of her neck, looking away from Rachel, and Rachel relished the reaction.

It was so endearing.

Rachel decided to push it a bit more, this time, though.

She leaned a bit closer to Chloe,

“Maybe she can … help you. I’m pretty good at convincing her to do things, y’know.”

Chloe’s response this time was a little surprising, though.

She scoffed a little and after a few seconds of being charmingly useless, she looked back to Rachel, though her features were still blushing somewhat.

“Yeah? You ever … tell this friend, you like her? Like that?”

While unexpected, it wasn’t unappreciated, and the equally playful-slash-flirty tone Chloe used so effortlessly mirrored Rachel’s.

Still.

Rachel was conflicted.

She didn’t let it show – simply smiling and hesitating for a few seconds, but eventually, she did respond,

“Maybe I will. When the stars align.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel smirked, and indicated back down to Chloe’s book.

“For now, homework, silly.”

Chloe groaned but took the hint, going back to reading her book.

Still.

Rachel was conflicted, and she didn’t quite take her eyes off of Chloe when she took to this.

It was maybe a week since they met at the mill, and Chloe was … Chloe.

Rachel liked the way Chloe’s eyes always were on her when she tried out some new outfit.

She liked the way Chloe never _quite_ handled any flirts or playful suggestions too well – though she was getting better.

Rachel frankly didn’t need the reminder that she was attractive and could make people awkward with this fact, but Chloe was just such a convenient reminder and so consistent Rachel couldn’t help but appreciate it a little.

But it was clear to Rachel, and perhaps everyone else, that Chloe was into her, and ever since she started to return the flirts, it became clear to her that Chloe wanted not just a friend out of Rachel, but some kind of relationship.

And Rachel simply didn’t know how to think about that.

It’s not what she wanted out of Chloe – at least, initially.

Now, though …

Rachel wasn’t sure.

Obviously, she was flirting with Chloe, and she didn’t feel bad or guilty doing that.

And she didn’t feel bad or weird or creeped on when Chloe obviously checked her out – the opposite, in fact, it was quite an empowering feeling.

But would Rachel seriously enjoy a serious relationship with Chloe?

She was a woman, but that simple fact didn’t weigh Rachel down so much.

A little, but not much.

Sure, it was a little unusual, but it’s not like people like Steph were ostracized, and Rachel had even more social capital to ease any weirdness over.

And she frankly felt more comfortable around Chloe than any boy she’d been around so far, except maybe Nathan.

No, the problem wasn’t social, but maybe it was mechanical.

Would Rachel, simply, enjoy kissing Chloe?

Or whatever else it led to?

Snuggling, cuddling, … sex?

Was she simply that gay enough for Chloe?

Or did she just appreciate a cute girl being obviously flustered by her, as she appreciated it among the boys?

Rachel was still a virgin, and her last boyfriend wasn’t that serious - did she really know exactly what she wanted?

Just as a matter of proportions she was already spending more time around Chloe than her last boyfriend.

That … meant something, right?

Maybe it just meant he was a bad boyfriend and Chloe was a good friend.

What if she started down this road and found that her interests just ended at flirting, and Chloe starting to snuggle with her or such was off-putting?

How badly would that hurt Chloe if she had to tell her to back down?

Wait, did that mean she was leading Chloe on _now,_ with the flirting, now that Chloe was suddenly flirting back?

Ugh.

Bad thoughts.

Rachel eventually looked away from Chloe and looked back down to her own book.

The last thing Rachel would ever want to do is hurt Chloe – not after how unfair everything was for the poor girl.

But … Chloe wanted this, something more out of Rachel.

Maybe Rachel did, too, out of Chloe.

It’d only been a week, but there wasn’t anyone else Rachel was as comfortable around, and she knew the feeling was mutual.

Maybe she just needed to think about it a bit more.

Carefully, Rachel inched a bit closer to Chloe while she read her book, just to examine her feelings with more intimacy.

Maybe she could find out step-by-step without committing and thus hurting Chloe if she had to back down.

Ugh.

This was so confusing.

Screw it.

Rachel just put the confusing thoughts out of her mind for now and appreciated Chloe’s company and her book.

That, really, was the point of everything, right?

Regardless of what they were.

Chloe’s cute little content sounds as Rachel got closer certainly made it seem like it.

It put a smile on Rachel’s face.

 

\---

 

Sometime in the afternoon, Joyce heard a knock at the door.

Chloe was upstairs, playing music, as she often did, so there was no concern Chloe would answer the door first.

She sighed and got up from the living room couch to go answer it.

 

David Mansen was a man of averages, but averages which themselves averaged together to be above-average.

No part of him in particular was impressive, from either his blocky face to short hair, but no part particularly unimpressive, either.

And he knew, as it seems, how to wear a suit well, which was never really one of William’s strengths, if Joyce was honest.

David, though … his suit was immaculate.

Perhaps a bit too formal for a family dinner with Chloe, of all children, but Joyce knew the suit was more for her than anything else.

David’s tie was just the right length, his belt was incredibly shiny and reflective with its golden care, his hair lines were all sharp and just immaculate.

While his face was blocky, his chin and jawline were sharp, and his shoulders wide.

In short, David was more impressive a man than Joyce imagined she’d get after trying to date as a single parent.

And he smiled while she just obviously stared and examined his suit.

“I - brought you this.”

One hand had been behind his back and it came forward to reveal a single rose – interestingly, with the thorns intact.

It looked wild, like he had just walked down the street until he found a rose to pluck from the ground.

Joyce smiled wider and carefully took the little flower, rolling it around in her hands and sighing contently.

“Chloe isn’t going to be wooed by roses, David …”

Still, she looked up, smiling.

“… but thanks.”

David too, smiled a bit, as he was invited in, and Joyce found some place to put the rose.

The plan of attack, as it were, was actually pretty simple.

Joyce needed to see Chloe and David interact, since while he was a perfect gentleman on a date with her, Chloe was … Chloe.

And as important as it was for her to personally get along with David, it was maybe even more important for Chloe to.

Joyce could deal with some things so long as Chloe’s life got easier and better.

So long as she stopped self-destructing and started to realize the damage she was doing to herself.

But as Joyce looked at the singular rose in the vase she had managed to find, she sighed a bit wearily.

David had already told her Chloe probably wouldn’t appreciate the authority if she’d spent so long without it, since it warped her mind and her expectations.

Things would be rough, at first, but he would be there for both of them, and eventually … eventually things would get better.

Joyce didn’t know how much she believed it, but her obvious doubt and self-worry must have been pretty easily evident, since soon David came up from behind her and hugged her tightly.

In his strong grasp, she could feel years-long conditioned muscles and she could breathe a bit easier.

Joyce didn’t know how this would work.

But she was willing to try.

Anything for Chloe.

Anything to have her daughter back.

“Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”

She could believe it, if she tried.

So she did.

She was getting good at it.

 

\---

 

“Chloe! Time for dinner!”

Chloe barely heard it over her music and she grunted, considering not even going down, since she wasn’t that hungry.

Normally, this is a dilemma that would be entirely personal to her, but …

_do i have to eat dinner_

Rachel was now part of her life, and that included random texts for pretty stupid things, but neither of them minded too much.

Chloe was _pretty sure_ Rachel mostly found it amusing.

 _you're telling me there’s an_ off _button to your hunger?_

Since Chloe found it amusing herself.

_yeah it’s called being lazy i’m in bed and it’s perfect comfy_

Chloe could almost imagine the way Rachel’s face would contort and the way she would gently scoff or shake her head.

_get up and eat lazy buns and thank me later xoxo_

Chloe sighed happily and put her phone down.

“Chloe! Now!”

She frowned, though, since … her mother was rarely pushy like that.

Well, whatever.

Chloe shook her head and decided she was, actually, hungry and got up from her bed, turning off her music and shoving her phone into her pants.

Normally, Chloe had no need for her phone, but ever since Rachel got her number, Chloe found reasons to keep it around.

Whatever.

Chloe ran her hands through her hair to straighten it out a bit after her bedhead and casually walked down the stairs –

 

Someone else was in her house.

 

At the bottom of the stairs, Chloe could see her mom and … someone else, sitting at the table.

She frowned.

Was this someone from the school, here to lecture her?

Chloe hesitated at the bottom of the steps, slowly bringing her arms down to cross them and carefully walking towards the dinner table.

The stranger was a man in a well-pressed suit, and he looked like he knew how to wear it, but Chloe always preferred the way a suit looked when it was worn more lazily, like how her dad always used to.

This added to the theory that he was a professional from the school, somehow.

The man looked to Joyce.

“Told you she would come.”

Chloe blinked and uncrossed her arms, starting to open her mouth,

But Joyce just looked to Chloe and cut her off,

 

“--- Chloe, dear. Come take a seat. I want you to meet my boyfriend.”

 

Chloe blinked only about a million times.

“ _Boyfriend?_ ”

The fuck.

Still, Chloe was standing there, now stunned by the news and not meaningfully responding, so the man cleared his throat.

Clearly there was some hesitation before he spoke.

“Listen to your mother. I won’t bite.”

Chloe kept on blinking and briefly gave him a suspicious look but a small sigh she crossed her arms and slowly made her way to the table.

She took her place across the man and next to her mother.

The food at least looked nice.

Whatever.

Maybe Chloe could just eat and pretend he wasn’t here.

She picked up her fork –

 

“Aren’t you going to say grace?”

 

So much for that idea.

The man’s words interrupted her thoughts again, and she looked up to him with another pouted frown.

“We haven’t said grace in years, dude.”

She picked up her knife and started cutting into her food, looking back down to it.

Joyce saw the small sparks, but she also saw that they weren’t exploding at each other, or anything.

She wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not.

David shook his head with a small sigh and joined hands with Joyce to say grace themselves, before they started eating.

It was a pretty awkward few moments afterwards while all they did was bite and chew, with everyone sort of trying to not look too much at each other or start anything.

Eventually, though, Joyce put her utensils down and started to wipe her mouth with a handkerchief,

“Chloe - this is David Madsen. My boyfriend.”

She smiled and looked over to him.

Chloe offered another suspicious look.

Joyce didn’t need a boyfriend.

Chloe didn’t need a replacement for William.

David sighed gently but mimicked what Joyce did before extending his hand out towards Chloe in offering.

Chloe put her utensils down too and just crossed her arms, staring at his hand.

Could she take that?

He _was_ her mother’s boyfriend.

And it’s not like he’d been a total tool so far.

Whatever.

Eventually, Chloe extended one of her own hands but pointedly squeezed David’s as much as possible when they shook.

“Nice to meet you.”

She hesitated.

“I guess.”

They held hands for a bit too long, too, but eventually separated and looked back down to their food.

David kept looking at Chloe.

“Likewise.”

David cleared his throat again and brought his hands up to the table, folding them together so he could look off to Chloe.

“Your mother tells me you go to Blackwell.”

Chloe scoffed and looked up to David herself.

“As opposed to _nowhere_ , I guess.”

She smirked a bit.

“Yeah.”

Joyce bit her lip and David rolled his eyes again.

“Uh-huh.”

He was clearly unamused, but that only amused Chloe further.

Eventually, he softened with the barest of exhales.

“Well. Did you know I work there?”

Chloe blinked and stopped chewing.

What?

“What?”

Joyce sighed wearily.

“Swallow your food, dear.”

Swallow.

Chloe looked to David.

“What?”

David nodded.

“Mr. Wells hired me just the other day. Said the other guy – Mr. Matthews I think his name was - wasn’t really cut out for it.”

Chloe frowned.

“That’s _bullshit_ – “

David and Joyce both tensed up, and Joyce sighed yet again,

“- _Language_ –“

Chloe spared her a brief annoyed look before back to David,

“- that’s _bullpucky_. Skip was cool.”

David shrugged.

“Maybe being ‘cool’ isn’t what’s best for the school.”

Chloe kept her frown.

David slowly brought his arms up to cross them.

“You know about the break-in, right?”

Chloe blinked.

“The break-in?”

David nodded briefly.

“Some … drug-dealing _thug_ just waltzed on campus and beat up a student. All because this - ‘Skip’ wasn’t doing his job.”

Oh, shit.

Damon and Drew.

Joyce blinked in surprise herself.

“ _What?_ Good Lord you’re not serious are you – I haven’t –“

David uncrossed his arms to raise a hand up as ‘stop’ to Joyce, who was happy to have the assurance.

He looked over to her and nodded again.

“I am serious. Blackwell is too lax on security. That’s where I come in.”

Chloe stared down at her food wordlessly and mindlessly, kinda shocked.

Did this mean Skip was fired?

And now her _Mom’s boyfriend_ was the security guard?

Fucking hell.

Just when she thought Blackwell couldn’t get any more bullshit for her.

It also put another pang of doubt and regret in her stomach for her actions.

If she just gave Damon his money, then Drew wouldn’t have gotten beat up, and Skip probably wouldn’t have lost his job.

David might not even _be_ here _right now_.

… fuck.

Chloe’s phone vibrated obnoxiously, and she blinked, looking down to it and pulling it out briefly but surreptitiously.

_you never take this long to eat_

From Rachel, of course, and it put a brief smile on Chloe’s face.

She started tapping out a response.

_yeah so like there’s a reason my mom brought a fucking boyfriend over kill me please_

While she was typing, Joyce and David exchanged looks.

They had already discussed numerous changes to how strict Joyce was going to be about Chloe that David was quite certain would help to focus her and make sure she didn’t fail at Blackwell or drop out.

Once such change in many was to prevent phones during dinner, so they could talk as a family about everything, without Chloe just staring at her phone and zoning out.

But …

They also planned to ramp up and ease into the changes and not just throw everything at her at once, which would obviously result in a lot of resistance.

Still, it both reminded them of this policy at the same time, and the wordless exchange of looks confirmed they were both thinking about it.

When Chloe was done and put her phone away, Joyce smiled and put her utensils down.

“So, Chloe, how’s the food?”

Chloe looked up from her lap with a small frown, but just kind of shrugged and grunted a little, poking at her food again and taking another quick bite to reassess.

“S’okay. I guess.”

Joyce nodded.

“Good, good. You know, um, I, we – we’re planning some things, soon -“

She frowned, suddenly not finding either the words or the courage to bring it up and looked over to David slightly helplessly.

Chloe blinked but looked between the two of them in confusion.

David looked over to Chloe.

 

“What your mother means is, there’s going to be some – changes around here.”

 

Chloe frowned pretty harshly at that and crossed her arms.

She looked over to her mother.

“What kind of ‘changes’?”

Joyce sighed.

David reached over and gently took one of her hands to affectionately stroke it and there was no way in hell Chloe was going to miss that.

Joyce closed her eyes and breathed in before opening them again.

“David and I, are, well, getting a little serious.”

Chloe blinked.

They’d only just started dating, right?

David nodded and looked back to Chloe.

“My lease is up soon. I’ll be moving in as soon as it’s up.”

Chloe’s jaw dropped.

David, moving in?

She didn’t even know the guy.

What if this wasn’t the only ‘change’ they had in mind, too?

Fuck.

“W-what, that’s – but you – “

She looked between David and Joyce and didn’t quite know what to say, so her brain just kind of ran ahead of itself,

“- don’t _I_ have a say in this? And, like – you just started dating and –“

Joyce bit her lip.

David sighed wearily and closed his eyes for a few seconds while Chloe started losing her composure, but eventually he brought his hands together folded above his dinner plate.

“Chloe. Please calm down. It won’t be for a little while. You’ll still have time to … adjust.”

Despite the simple logic of David’s words, Chloe just frowned and looked off to her mother.

“No! I – mom? Are you … _really_? Like …”

Chloe hated how unprepared she felt for this situation.

Like she could barely even put two sentences together, but the shock of her life potentially changing quite a lot as David moved in wasn’t an easy one to work through.

Joyce sighed herself but tried to smile warmly.

“Yes, dear. He’s right. But, please, try to -”

No.

For some reason, somehow, this crap started to kick up her anger.

Her mother was trying to forget about William – the most important thing in Chloe’s life, and move on with some idiot Chloe didn’t even know.

No.

She just stood up and placed her hands on the table.

Fuck this.

She just had to turn her words against her.

“ _No_. I’m not ‘trying’ anything. I shouldn’t have to.”

Her voice got a little uneven and raised.

David frowned.

“Chloe … _calm down_.”

His tone was vaguely threatening, but Chloe just brought her hands up to cross them and looked over to him, while Joyce blinked uselessly.

“ _Fuck you_. I don’t need your stupid ‘changes’ either. My life is just fine the way it is and –“

Joyce exhaled harshly.

 

“- _No_. Chloe.”

 

The forcefulness of this coming from her mother was honestly a little disarming and Chloe blinked a few times, looking off to her mother again.

Joyce breathed in once or twice pretty harshly, and her voice came out strained, like she was close to tears.

“Things are not ‘fine’. Things are the opposite of ‘fine’. You’re about to be _kicked out of school._ Do you even _know_ how much I _try_ and _worry about you_ and –“

Fuck.

Chloe hated seeing her mother get sad, and feeling her tears start to form just cut into her like a knife.

Chloe shrunk down a little bit, looking down to her food.

Joyce took another harsh inhale.

“- just. Please. Chloe. Sit down and let’s – try to have a nice family dinner.”

David was back to supporting Joyce, now rubbing at one of her shoulders, while Chloe considered things very obviously.

Was Chloe being the asshole in this situation?

Was her mother?

David?

There wasn’t really anything Chloe could say in response, meaningfully, to challenge her mother, even if she wanted to.

It’s not like she was wrong.

But … still.

Chloe slowly looked up, then down again.

“No.”

She hesitated, before adding a,

“… sorry.”

And rolling her shoulders before she sighed and walked away from the dinner table.

She wasn’t hungry anymore, anyway.

 

As Chloe walked away, Joyce sniffled some more, but David kept offering his support.

“Shh. It’s okay.”

Chloe walked up the steps, and when David was sure she was out of earshot, he sighed.

“We knew this might happen. That’s why she has the time to get used to it.”

He looked up to the ceiling, where he suspected she might be in her room, right now.

“She’ll get used to it, eventually.”

Joyce sucked in a miserable breath.

“Lord I hope so.”

Somehow, David snickered a bit, and brought his hands back to the utensils to almost start eating again.

“That girl has a spirit. Gave my hand quite a squeeze there. And I don’t usually see such … _passion_ in girls her age.”

Despite everything, Joyce appreciated the attempts at levity, and just barely scoffed, looking down to her food briefly.

“My Chloe can be so strong when she wants to be. She gets it from her father, I think.”

She hesitated as the thought completed, then sighed.

“Are you sure you can’t get a month or two added to your lease? Just so it’s … easier?”

David took a bite to eat and thought about it before putting his utensils down and taking one of Joyce’s hands again.

He looked her square in the eye.

“Bun, I promise the next time she sees me, it’ll be easier. And the time after, a little bit easier. And so on.”

He closed his eyes.

“Give Chloe the time she needs to adjust, but … don’t let her think this isn’t going to happen, or she can delay it by throwing a hissy fit.”

He opened his eyes again.

“Because it is happening, and it’s going to happen just as we planned.”

He smiled.

“Right?”

Joyce smiled a bit, too.

 

“… right.”

 

She could believe it, if she tried.

So she did.

She was getting good at it.

That was still the most interaction she’d gotten out of Chloe in a long time.

 

That night was rough on Chloe.

David eventually left, and they smartly left her alone in her room for the rest of the afternoon, but the implications of what was revealed tonight stayed long after he did.

Normally, Chloe would smoke until she didn’t care about anything, or maybe sneak out to find some beers and drink until she didn’t care about anything, but …

She had something else she could do, this time.

She pulled out her phone.

She texted Rachel, instead.

It was the first time they had a conversation that lasted all the way to Chloe going to bed, and the first time they had a meaningful conversation after dinner.

Chloe managed to dump all of her worries about what might happen, and while Rachel wasn’t exactly comforting, since she didn’t think Chloe should put up with this either, it was just nice to get it out there.

Chloe went to bed smiling.

It felt nice to be understood.

 

As more days ticked by, the focus of Rachel’s attention changed from understanding how attracted she was to Chloe to just being a good friend for her while David suddenly started appearing more and more in her life.

This was actually a duty Rachel was pretty used to doing for her friends, and it didn’t surprise her that Chloe would eventually warm up to her enough to start talking about the shit that was going wrong in her life that was troubling her.

Maybe this is what they would be – good, close friends.

Weirdly, though, Rachel never needed a friend to serve this role for _her._

The real shit people talked through with her – various boy troubles, various family issues, various school issues – just simply weren’t problems for her.

She didn’t have a boyfriend that was pushing for unprotected sex.

She didn’t have a mother who needed back surgery.

She didn’t have a new step-father appear in her life and shake everything up.

She didn’t have any troubles with drama class.

Everything was just … perfect.

Maybe she should be happy that her life was essentially perfect, but it didn’t stop her from wondering what would happen if she needed Chloe like Chloe needed her.

If she would ever have to bare her soul and trust Chloe to not reject her in her time of need.

And it’s not like she needed a _bad_ but interesting thing happen to her.

It could be a _good_ interesting thing, too. Like Chloe.

But she still wanted more, something more than friends, now.

She wanted to have some sort of interesting adventure happen to her, that made her life exciting and fulfilling and made a story worth telling.

She dreamed about it, and maybe even wished for it.

 

It was a few days later when Rachel got her wish, for better or worse.

 

During lunch, Rachel came home from school.

Somehow, she’d manage to forget some of her homework, but that was okay, since she could just skate on her longboard back to her house whenever she needed to without involving her parents.

Rachel unlocked the door to her house, walked inside, closed the door behind her and –

“Is that you, honey?”

Rachel hummed idly.

Close to the front door was her father’s office, and that was clearly his voice calling out.

But he shouldn’t be home for a while.

Maybe he was just having lunch at home, or something.

It’s not like Rachel was home very often during lunch to know his routines.

Whatever.

She shrugged.

“No dad, it’s me. I just forgot something is all.”

She heard her father respond with a small ‘oh’.

Rachel eyed her father’s door for a few seconds and figured it wasn’t that unusual for him to be home.

She heard him talking to … someone, on the phone, as she started to walk away, though.

Not the strangest thing in the world.

Rachel went up the stairs to her room and quickly got her homework from her desk, as quickly walking down the stairs –

Her father had left his office and closed the sliding glass door leading outside.

At first, it didn’t even register in her mind, except for the sharp sound of the glass door closing.

She walked to the exit and picked her board and almost opened the door, but hesitated, and looked back to the sliding glass door.

Her father had every right to go get some fresh air or have a conversation where ever he wanted to, but Rachel couldn’t help but think back to the last time he elected to have a phone conversation out in the garden.

Was she really thinking about snooping again?

That last conversation kept popping up in her mind, from time to time, usually during diner with her family.

It’d been a few days and her dad never brought it up, seeming to think she didn’t overhear a peep.

Whatever he was talking about then, it was genuinely something he wanted to keep from her, not just a random thing.

Maybe he was talking about the same thing now, and that’s why he moved the conversation outside, so Rachel definitely couldn’t overhear any part of it.

Rachel could just … snoop a little.

Confirm she was being overly suspicious and crazy.

She’d hear him talking about some random work things and know of course her dad wasn’t trying to keep something from her and she was just reading too much into this.

Rachel put her skateboard down and decided to go out the sliding glass door and into the maze.

She walked lightly on the grass to not make as much sound in case he was just somewhere in the maze and not at the other side.

For the most part, she was confident he would prove her suspicions wrong.

But there always that nagging feeling in the back of her head, constantly reminding her that he was indeed keeping _something_ from her.

But it wasn’t until she was near the exit to the garden did she start to hear him, again.

“… tomorrow, after lunch.”

Rachel’s heart skipped a beat as she hugged the leafy walls again and concentrated on the distant voices.

Was this a work date or a secret date?

Maybe this still wasn’t that bad.

Rachel had to hear more.

“This had better be quick. I’m risking quite a lot seeing you in person.”

He was meeting someone, in person, tomorrow after lunch …?

And it was risky for him …?

Fuck.

Definitely not a work date.

Rachel felt this nervous energy in her stomach when she realized she was confirming the opposite of what she hoped to.

“… no. Of course I’m not bringing her. I told you that already. You come within 100 feet of her and I’m arresting your butt so quickly it’ll make your head spin. _Don’t_ push me.”

Who was her …?

Was there some kind of restraining order going on here …?

She heard him sigh.

“Look. I’m sorry. You just leave with no choice, sometimes … I do … want to see you.”

Her father’s voice went from a little irritated and angry to sober and remorseful in a few seconds flat, which only added to the confusion.

“I know, I know … you just want to see _her_. You know I – never mind. Tomorrow, at one, in the park, by that big ol’ tree near the middle with the plaque on it.”

Rachel realized this was probably nearing the end of the conversation, and despite her mixture of feelings of overhearing what she did, the possibility of her father finding her eavesdropping on something he clearly and pointedly did not want her to listen in on, even through muffled office walls, meant she needed to leave _now_.

So, regrettably, Rachel pulled away from the wall and started rubbing at her face harshly with a hand while she thought about everything.

She soon picked up her pace when she was far enough away and tore into the house, then picked up her bag and longboard and slammed out of the house, barely closing the door behind her.

Fuck.

Rachel started skating back to Blackwell, features heavy and serious, trying to make all of the pieces fit.

Her father wanted to see someone, who wanted to see someone else her father knew, and this someone else was a woman, whom her father could ‘bring’.

There was some kind of restraining order or agreement or something that prevented this someone from seeing this woman.

And he did _not_ want Rachel to know about this all.

Did her mother know?

It didn’t seem like it from the way she described it, earlier, like her father was talking to a work friend or something.

Her dad was keeping some kind of secret from the both of them.

Some person he didn’t want them to see, apparently, since everyone he could ‘bring’ he was keeping in the dark.

He was fucking lying.

Rachel grunted in frustration as she kicked the board forward again.

She had better be … fucking wrong about this.

Rachel was going to – she had to – she needed to be at this meeting, or at least have some way of witnessing it from a distance.

She needed to see _just_ what her fucking father was keeping from her.

Rachel dreaded she already knew the answer from the way the pieces were lining up.

 

All that afternoon, Rachel tried to fit the pieces together in another way, but they just refused to fit.

She _had_ to skip class and see what was going on.

And if she found out what she thought she might, well, she needed – something.

Alcohol or maybe weed or …

Chloe?

It seemed so obvious when the thought came.

Chloe, who just suddenly started being involved in her life after magically going to one of the shows she went to.

Chloe, who just suddenly started having family issues right before Rachel finds out about potentially her own.

Chloe, who could trust Rachel with everything … now needed to be trusted with this horrible family secret.

There just wasn’t anyone else she couldn’t trust to not eventually gossip.

And there certainly wasn’t anyone else she could manage to drag out to the park, if not for the simple fact that that would be cutting class, and probably the only friend she had who was cool with that was Chloe.

No, even without the logic that Chloe was clearly the right fit for this plan, it seemed like she was destined to be, too.

The timing was just too perfect, too sharp to be mere coincidence.

Despite Rachel’s growing feeling of resentment and betrayal over what her father might potentially be doing, she smiled just slightly after one more annoyed push with her foot.

This was destiny, handing her the perfect opportunity to have her adventure, to skip her school and bring her friend along and find out the truth.

Nothing was going to stand in the way of her and finding out whatever it was her father was keeping from her.

Nothing.

And Chloe was going to be by her, every step of the way.

She just knew it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel convinces Chloe to help.
> 
> Rachel feels a little jealous.
> 
> Rachel feels a lot of anger.
> 
> Rachel has no fucking clue what she's doing.
> 
> But Chloe's there.
> 
> Maybe she always is.

Chloe noticed that Rachel was distracted.

She apologized but said she had something to do, yesterday, and wouldn’t be available all night.

Which was … fine, Chloe could survive one day without Rachel, right?

It turned out that was another David date night, and while this one didn’t go awfully, Chloe still wanted to talk to Rachel about it.

But it was okay.

Chloe had her weed and she was fine for the afternoon.

She wasn’t that needy of a friend, was she?

She only met Rachel like two weeks ago.

Yet it already felt like they’d known each other for so long, and Chloe already didn’t know what she would do if Rachel suddenly needed more and more time without Chloe being able to ever talk to her.

Which was … weird, right?

It was like the kind of excuse Chloe gave to Eliot when she didn’t really want to hang out but didn’t really want him to know about that, either.

Fuck, did Chloe push too hard on flirting back, and now Rachel was weirded out?

Stupid, stupid.

 

Rachel didn’t talk much the next morning, either, and by then, Chloe had solidly convinced herself she might be getting slightly ignored.

So it was a surprise, then, when Chloe closed her locker over lunch and found a Rachel standing pretty right in front of her.

“Jesus. Don’t do that.”

Rachel smirked and leaned forward to pluck out Chloe’s earbuds, since of course she was wearing them.

“If you have your head in music all day long it’s easy to sneak up on you.”

Chloe sort of scoff-rolled her eyes, but Rachel then patted her on the shoulder and brushed past.

“C’mon. We need to talk.”

… we need to talk.

Duh, about Chloe’s flirting –

Chloe groaned a little and turned around to start after Rachel.

Well, at least Rachel had the nerve to force the issue instead of just letting it fester like Chloe did.

… then again, Chloe told off Eliot, too.

Maybe Chloe wasn’t quite as awful at this relationship stuff as she thought.

Rachel pulled her into one of the girl’s bathrooms and started reapplying some makeup.

Chloe just sat there and crossed her arms, waiting a little impatiently, bouncing a bit here and there.

Eventually,

“So, uh, about this –“

Rachel turned around and got up on the sink she’d been leaning over, letting her feet kick back and forward idly while she looked to Chloe.

“- I need you skip class with me this afternoon.”

Chloe blinked only about a million times.

This wasn’t a lecture on Chloe’s flirting …?

“Uhhhhh y’know there’s better ways to ask for a date than cutting class.”

Rachel scoff-smiled at the joke, looking down briefly and pushing some hair behind her ear before standing up off of the sink.

“If only it was a date.”

Chloe blushed a little and had the thought of looking to one of the walls, but Rachel was upon her soon, standing close.

Chloe couldn’t avert her gaze, even if it meant Rachel saw another flirt landing with a blush.

“Then …?”

Her voice sounded a little airy, fuck.

Rachel looked past Chloe, then around them, then she quickly started to check the stalls by looking at the gap underneath them.

Satisfied that they were alone, she started putting her makeup away back into her bag.

“No. This is … serious, unfortunately.”

She hiked her backpack onto her back and turned to face Chloe again, crossing her arms.

“My dad is keeping something from me. I’m going to go see what it is.”

Chloe blinked, processing the information.

Rachel’s dad was keeping something from her?

So much for them all being perfect …

Was it serious?

Rachel pushed past Chloe at her non-reaction and moved towards the exit.

“I need a … partner in crime, so to speak. Just in case …”

Chloe turned around to watch her.

Rachel closed her eyes and sighed a bit too wearily,

“… just in case I’m right about this. It’s –“

She slammed her hand against the door leading out,

“- I better not be. But … yeah. You coming?”

Rachel looked back as Chloe met her eyes, and Chloe didn’t know what to make of this.

That little burst of anger, that little unvarnished attitude – was this the real Rachel?

That Chloe was now trusted to?

Even to the inner family drama?

Chloe didn’t want to skip since she didn’t want Wells on her ass, but … she’d been good, lately.

He wasn’t going to mind half a day, would he?

And Chloe kind of owed Rachel, by now, after everything she’d done for Chloe.

Chloe wasn’t about to flake on a friend in their time of need.

So with a heavy sigh and perhaps a second or two too long of consideration, Chloe nodded, walked up behind Rachel, and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“I’m right behind you, Rach. Just tell me when and where.”

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief and giggled as they both left the bathroom.

 

Victoria, meanwhile, slowly unfurled her feet that she’d brought up into her knees the second she heard Rachel come in the bathroom.

This … was juicy.

There’s no way Rachel would want any of that getting out – especially any news about her dad hiding dark secrets.

Finally, Victoria had some leverage over Rachel to get her to do what she wanted.

She started to scheme, wondering where this could be applied first and most effectively …

Even if this probably meant sinking any chance at a real relationship with Rachel, Rachel had already made it clear all she wanted to do was use Victoria like a toy for gossip.

Victoria was done being a toy.

 

\---

 

It’d been a while since Rachel had properly cut a class, but Blackwell was currently in some kind of transition period with the security guards, so it was surprisingly easy to do.

Maybe she could ask her mother for a note, later, or maybe forge one.

Either way, Rachel wasn’t surprised to see Chloe had managed to cut too, as they stood outside Blackwell underneath some tree.

Chloe got herself a warm hug and round of appreciative words and then off they went.

 

They both had skateboards, but the park was in the hills, elevated, and riding a skateboard up hill was just all kinds of awful and annoying.

Rachel had a better idea.

There were trains that went up and through the hills – they ‘simply’ had to hitch a ride on one and get off when they were up high enough.

Perhaps easier said than done but Rachel spent all night looking at schedules and figuring out routes.

She wasn’t going to mess this up, and the ever-useful Chloe was here in case they needed to jump fences or pick locks or something.

And sure enough, there was a lock they had to pick on the way to sneaking into the trains, which only vindicated further Rachel choosing Chloe to tag along, since Rachel sure as hell didn’t know how to pick one.

Just another sign this was meant to be, and Chloe was meant to be here, helping Rachel.

 

When they snuck onto one of the cargo cabins on some train, Rachel breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

They were doing this.

As the train started picking up and the cool air started running against her face, Rachel closed her eyes and leaned back, resting her palms on the floor behind them and sticking her legs out the side of the train to let them sway freely.

They were doing this.

Chloe sat down a little bit away from her, and actually took to writing some graffiti on one of the walls nearby.

That was fine.

Rachel wanted a second or two to think about stuff, anyway.

 

Eventually, Chloe finished her ‘artwork’, since she sure as hell wasn’t going to have another chance to mark up the inside of a cargo train like this and sat down as Rachel did near the open side of the train.

Rachel was still quiet and seemingly in thought, and Chloe kind of was too.

This … was crazy, right?

Chloe was skipping class and going along with someone she hardly knew to find out about some vague thing her father had been keeping from her, after they were trespassing and breaking and entering.

What if they got caught?

What would Chloe say to her mother?

Sorry, helping Rachel is more important than school?

But … fuck.

Something Rachel said a few days ago when she helped Chloe with Drew still hadn’t gotten out of her mind.

What if this was Max, instead of Rachel?

What if they had reunited, and Max found out some dark secret about her father, and she needed Chloe’s help to uncover it?

Chloe knew, in her heart of hearts, she would help Max.

And if Chloe was the only one Rachel trusted with this … that meant something, right?

Chloe looked over to Rachel.

Her eyes were still closed, and she was still deep in thought, it seemed.

Chloe caught herself staring a little at Rachel’s long hair waving along in the wind and the way her chest was rising and falling gently as she was breathing.

Chloe looked down to one of Rachel’s hands and considered taking it.

Instead, she just briefly bit her lip and looked up.

“So uh – better get your tickets out. I think the conductor’s gonna come by soon to punch them.”

At this, Rachel scoffed and opened her eyes to look over at Chloe.

And she too had a brief moment to appreciate that stupid but endearing grin Chloe had whenever she cracked a dumb joke.

“I don’t think we have to worry about that, for some reason …”

Rachel looked off to the scenery whizzing by them.

Chloe followed her eyes.

Rachel then frowned a bit.

“Hey, Clo …”

Chloe blinked.

“Yeah?”

Rachel sighed and looked back to her, sitting more upright.

“You ever wonder what your life would be like if you adventured more?”

Chloe blinked, then kind of scoffed a little.

“I’m … just trying to get by day by day. I dunno.”

She shrugged,

“This is kind of adventure enough, isn’t it?”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

“This is quite an adventure, yeah …”

She sighed almost dreamily,

“… hiding away from school, breaking into a train, going to spy on my dad …”

She looked over to Chloe with a small smile,

“It’s like a bad thriller, or something.”

The two of them shared an amused sound, but Rachel shook her head.

“But I mean … this is just one day.”

Rachel looked forward again and pursed her lips.

“I keep wondering … what about the rest of my life?”

She frowned.

“Is it just school and a job that’s – I don’t know, probably been lined up for me since the day I was born?”

Chloe inched a bit closer.

“What are you saying, Rach?”

She only just now noticed their voices had gotten more quiet and gentle, though obviously loud enough to be heard over the train.

Rachel bit her lip and looked over to Chloe.

“I don’t belong here, Chloe. I want to spread my wings and fly.”

She emphasized this by actually raising her hands up on either side of her body, though they were wings, but soon placed her hands back down, only dreamily sighing again.

“Find adventure in every day, in every city, in every road …”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel smiled, a bit.

Their eyes met,

“… you don’t want to stay here the rest of your life, do you?”

Chloe blinked.

She then sighed and looked down between them.

“… I don’t think I can afford moving. Or - travelling. _Adventure._ ”

She frowned, slightly.

“I don’t think anyone in my family can …”

Rachel’s heart strings were tugged a little at Chloe’s tone here, all dejected and defeated again, like she had accepted her fate was to live and die in this fuck-off town.

And like all of the times Rachel heard it prior, it put a small frown on her face, and she inched closer to Chloe.

“Maybe you won’t have to.”

Chloe blinked and looked up to suddenly find Rachel _right there_.

“Huh?”

Rachel smiled and raised one of her hands up to put on Chloe’s shoulder, and at least the girl had gotten used to that kind of touch now since she didn’t jump.

Her eyes still lingered on it though, as if disbelieving …

“Let’s say I’m your sugar momma and I bankrolled a trip.”

Her smile turned a smirk,

“Where would you go? What would you do?”

Chloe’s eyes went from Rachel’s hand to her face to out the train again, and she scoffed.

She shook her head gently but was smiling at the thought.

“I dunno, Rachel … guess I never thought about it before.”

Chloe looked forward.

“Maybe … Seattle.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

“What’s in Seattle?”

Chloe sighed.

“Max.”

Oh.

“Oh.”

That … didn’t feel too good.

Rachel squeezed Chloe’s shoulder, then removed her hand to place it back where it had been.

Aside the simple fact Chloe’s tone was somber and depressing again, Rachel couldn’t help a small feeling of disappointment.

Like Chloe wanted to be somewhere else, with Max, instead of here, with Rachel.

Wait, why did that bother Rachel?

Of course Chloe wanted to be with her best friend.

For chrissakes the girl kept a broken tape recorder of her just because it reminded Chloe of her.

It should be completely unsurprising and natural that that’s where Chloe’s mind would go.

And yet, Rachel was still disappointed, a little.

Because – why?

Because she wanted Chloe to be thinking about spending time with Rachel?

Because Rachel was thinking about spending time with Chloe?

No part of this question implied they’d go somewhere together, but Rachel suddenly realized that’s how she was imagining it.

Completely automatically, as though Chloe were already a part of her life enough to be the of-course companion to her adventure.

This clearly meant … something.

Rachel needed to think about it more.

For now, though, her thinking had dragged the silence on long enough and it felt awkward enough that she needed to respond.

And the easiest way to was to shift this back to something more pleasant for the both of them.

Rachel sighed a little dreamily and tried to knock her mind away from this sudden and unexpected possessiveness of Chloe.

“Ever been to LA?”

Chloe eventually shrugged and shook her head.

“It’s amazing, Chloe …”

Rachel laid back and closed her eyes, reliving.

“The sun never gets too hot, the winters never get too cold. You can leave your windows open for most of the year. You’re always ten minutes from anything in the world you could possibly want, whether it’s a beach, a bar, or an amazing restaurant … or just an awesome sight to see.”

Chloe kind of automatically closed her eyes to start visualizing it as Rachel romantically rambled off her memory of her time there.

“… guess I’d want to go there, too.”

Rachel smirked.

“Guess we both do, then.”

Chloe scoffed a little.

“What a coincidence.”

Rachel sat back up, opened her eyes, and snaked one of her hands just right by Chloe’s to tease at taking it, instead just playing the hand-equivalent of footsie.

 

“Or maybe it’s meant to be.”

 

That was a kind of weird thought.

Meant to be.

What did Rachel mean by it?

Chloe didn’t really know, but she only lasted a few seconds of Rachel’s hand teasing her before she stole it to hold her hand and intertwine their fingers.

They both just watched the trees fly by.

Meant to be.

Rachel smirked.

“Don’t think about it too hard now, or you’ll hurt yourself.”

Chloe laughed and looked back over to Rachel.

“I’ll be fine… I think. How much longer we sittin’ here, anyway?”

 

They had some time to burn.

It was as good as time as any to go through some of Chloe’s library on her iPod, since she never left the house without the damn thing.

Soon enough, the train stopped at some service station – not to refill or anything, just a conflict on the tracks.

Before Rachel could get off, though, Chloe cutely pushed herself off, still holding Rachel’s hand, and helped her down.

Rachel wouldn’t have wanted anyone else by her side as they started hiking up to the spot they were going to use to spy on her dad’s meeting location.

 

The trip upwards was surprisingly quiet, but mostly because Rachel was getting more tense thinking about her dad.

Chloe had been a wonderful distraction from dwelling on it too much too soon, but … she didn’t have much else to think about as they got near their vantage point.

As the park was in the hills, it was of course hilly, and there was a tourist-y spot near the middle that overlooked pretty much the entire rest of the camp.

It was a bit of a hike up to it, but it was worth it.

Rachel considered hiding in bushes nearby the meeting spot, but didn’t want to risk something stupid happening, like them sneezing or something, that would tip her dad off.

If she could hear _him_ , then he could hear _her_.

So, she probably wouldn’t hear whatever it is they were talking about, which was unfortunate, but she just couldn’t risk her dad finding her not only snooping on him but having snooped on him prior and skipped class _to_ snoop.

Not yet, anyway …

 

“What do you think we’ll see?”

The question came from Chloe as they reached the summit and looked down to the vast space beneath them.

Rachel sighed and crossed her arms while leaning on the guard railing.

She looked down for a second or two, at some random person jogging.

“Something my dad doesn’t want me to see.”

Chloe had been turned around, her arms also crossed but her posture more suited for talking to Rachel than for looking and spying.

She frowned.

“What could he be keeping from you?”

Rachel shrugged a little and looked over to Chloe.

“It’s … some person. I …”

She sighed wearily and looked back down again.

“I don’t know who it could be. Dad’s not secretive about his friends or his coworkers. They all love me. This is … something new.”

Rachel sounded pretty distant when she said this, and it made Chloe bite her own lip.

She then smirked somewhat.

“Well, hey, maybe it’s a new boyfriend who is _also_ a weird controlling freak.”

Rachel half-scoffed half-groaned and uncrossed her arms to rub gently at her face, though still resting on her elbows.

“ _Ughhh_. Don’t put the thought in my head.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel responded seriously to what was clearly a joke.

This really must be getting to her.

… of course it did.

Chloe sighed and uncrossed her arms, inching a bit closer and placing her hand comfortingly on Rachel’s shoulder.

“Sorry. I’m just kidding.”

Rachel breathed in deep and nodded, smiling when she looked back to Chloe.

“I know, I know … I just –“

Chloe rubbed forcefully,

“- it’s really getting to you. I know. But – that’s why I’m here, right?”

Rachel went quiet at Chloe completing her sentence for her, but just smiled all the wider when she did.

It felt nice to be automatically understood, like that.

She nodded and looked back out to the infinite forest all around them and the sheer drop just past her.

“Yeah. It sure is.”

She breathed in deeply,

 

“Thanks.”

 

Chloe smiled too and settled down right next to Rachel, sort of imitating her posture and looking out with her.

“So where’s it happening? What are we looking for?”

Rachel stood upright to look down to her bag and start rummaging through it for a pair of binoculars.

There were view finders up here, too, but Rachel didn’t trust that they’d all be in working order, and they were both timed and coin-operated, anyway.

When she pulled found her binoculars she readjusted her hair behind her ears again and looked through them, briefly scanning.

“He mentioned a big tree … with a plaque on it.”

It didn’t take her too long to find.

Someone was already at the meeting spot, some minutes early.

She frowned.

It was a woman wearing a white dress.

She had some tattoos here and there and was quietly smoking while resting on the tree.

Rachel guessed her to be about her dad’s age.

Is this who he didn’t want her to know about?

She looked a little familiar, but Rachel couldn’t quite place why.

Maybe this was an old friend from before dad became who he was.

She frowned and hummed flatly before giving Chloe the binoculars.

“Check it. It’s right over there.”

Chloe dumbly blinked but accepted them, following Rachel’s guidance with her obvious indicating.

“Over by that girl?”

Rachel nodded.

“Yeah. You know her?”

Chloe scoffed.

“No. Should I?”

Rachel shrugged.

“Guess we’re going to find out …”

Chloe sighed.

“Guess so …”

She gave the binoculars back.

Chloe started playing with one of the viewfinders so they could both look at once while Rachel remained vigilant.

 

When the meeting was set to start, Chloe managed to get one of them working.

They both watched as Rachel’s dad came up to the woman in white.

The introduction alone was eye-brow raising.

Rachel’s dad, James, offered his hand out to shake, but the woman simply moved forward and hugged him, instead, and despite some initial stiffness in his person, he did return the hug eventually.

Hugging friends wasn’t exactly weird, but the difference in expectations were, especially when Rachel had no clue who this person was, and she apparently was a good friend.

“ _Someone’s_ thirsty.”

Chloe’s random comment earned a slightly amused scoff.

“Maybe it’s an old friend.”

Chloe grunted.

“Then what’s with all the secrecy and shit?”

Rachel sighed.

“I wish I knew …”

Rachel wished she could hear what they were talking about, too.

After they separated they had a conversation in which they both seemed to get angry but then also calm themselves down to keep the conversation going.

This was another noteworthy thing – her dad rarely got upset.

It’s almost like just being around this woman was changing him.

Their conversation went through another cycle of anger and calm before they seemed to reach some kind of conclusion, with James standing firm and crossing his arms and the woman looking down at the floor, as if in defeat.

Eventually James uncrossed his arms and said a simple word to the woman, which inspired her to get close to him –

She got up on her tippy toes –

She _kissed_ him –

Rachel blinked only about a million times.

She wanted her father to reject this woman, to shove her away, to deny her the affection –

But instead he allowed it.

Rachel’s grip on her binoculars got so tight she thought she might tear it in two.

Chloe went deathly silent as the kiss started, and as it seemed he didn’t reject it, she realized this was probably hurting Rachel.

This was a pretty awful thing to find out about your dad …

She didn’t quite know what to do or say, though.

Sorry your dad’s a cheating prick?

Yeah, _no_.

Still, she needed to say _something_ , right?

“Shit… uh, Rachel?”

The kiss wasn’t fucking ending.

He was just enjoying it like –

Some kind of fucking cheater.

Of course he was.

Here was some fucking dirty secret.

That’s why Rachel couldn’t know about it.

How fucking stupid was she to think he was some kind of amazing, perfect dad.

No one was perfect.

All at once, Rachel grunted in her anger and threw her binoculars down to the floor, hopefully shattering them.

She kicked over her bag and started breathing more heavily –

Her fists clenched and she started walking back and forth, pacing around –

She looked around for something –

She saw Chloe, just staring at her in a mixture of worry and confusion, but –

There was a tree nearby.

Pretty thoughtlessly one of her hands connected with the tree.

Of course, it hurt, but it wasn’t enough.

There was a root, thing, too, near her foot, and it looked fragile, like something Rachel could snap.

Rachel kicked at it _hard_ but –

It wasn’t something Rachel could snap.

The root felt as tough as steel, since of course it did, it was a _root_ , and all this did was cause tremendous agony in her foot.

She groaned forcefully and sharply and leaned on the tree, lifting her foot up a little to give it release from the pressure of standing.

Fuck.

“Hey, hey – hey, c’mon, Rachel –“

Chloe finally convinced herself to do _something_ and hurriedly walked over to Rachel with her now-forgotten backpack.

Rachel looked up with a deep frown and while logically she appreciated Chloe’s care and concern instinctually she didn’t want the interference.

Chloe put a hand on her shoulder, but Rachel wormed it off and stood up, though this was immediately a mistake and her foot screamed in agony, resulting in another pained groan and a rebalancing of her weight so less was on it.

They both looked down to her foot before back up to each other, and Chloe was clearly quite concerned and shocked, mouth gaping all stupidly and everything.

“- let’s not, um, kill the trees, let’s just leave – if you want to vent I have like, beer and weed somewhere and -“

Rachel frowned more intently and turned around, but even this was enough movement to make her foot hurt even more.

The pain, however, wasn’t sobering.

It was empowering.

“This … _fucker_ needs to burn.”

Chloe blinked and hesitated for a second or two, watching Rachel awkwardly start limping as she walked back down the path they came up.

Rachel really was _angry._

And did she just call her dad a ‘fucker’?

With her own groan, she started chasing after her.

This was clearly escalating, and Chloe felt obligated to stop it.

“No, no – no, c’mon, Rach, what are you going to do? Go yell at him? You already hurt yourself. Stop for a second.”

The two stopped, Rachel still frowning.

It was hard to argue that she _did_ hurt her foot in her anger – she could feel it with every small pathetic step she took.

And yelling at him was pretty much exactly what she wanted to do – maybe even yell at that whore he was hooking up with, too.

Publicly embarrass him.

Make him regret being a cheating bastard.

 _Something_.

Chloe took the opportunity, while Rachel was obviously thinking, to get in front of her.

“Let’s just … chill, okay? Before things get even worse.”

They met each other’s eyes and Chloe tried to seal the deal by placing her hand on Rachel’s shoulder and smiling weakly.

Rachel was still frowning.

“Things are _already_ even worse.”

But, then, she looked down and sighed.

Chloe was probably right, and this was probably the exact reason Rachel brought her along.

Rachel didn’t want to do _nothing_ , but she’d already hurt herself and maybe broken her binoculars …

And if she went and rushed off and confronted her dad right now, that would certainly fuck their relationship, but perhaps he wouldn’t learn much from it.

Maybe Rachel needed slightly more tact before she confronted him.

“But … alright. Point me at some fucking alcohol. I … need to think.”

And plan some way to get back at him, but Chloe regarded this mostly as a win, and offered Rachel’s backpack back to her, which she accepted and put back onto her back.

“I gotchu.”

 

As Chloe led and they walked, they both thought obviously and quietly.

Occasionally Rachel put a little bit of her weight on Chloe to help with her foot, and Chloe was happy to help.

Her foot stopped hurting as badly eventually, or at least, she was getting used to the pain.

They both had to think of what this all meant, and the implications of it.

Chloe had some small hope that it was an accident, of sorts, or maybe a one-time deal.

But it’s not like she ever found herself ‘accidentally’ sucking someone’s face like that for at least a minute …

But she essentially didn’t want Rachel’s family life to fall apart and for her to go through the same shit Chloe already had, so she thought of ways she might be able to convince Rachel to not explode at her dad about this.

Even if she had to fake things or lie or pretend, having a dad was obviously and squarely better than not, and Rachel’s anger seemed like she wanted to burn the whole relationship down as painfully as possible.

Rachel, meanwhile, was mostly scheming ways to get equal, oblivious and disinterested in Chloe’s thoughts of civility.

Maybe she’d tell her mother and they’d confront him together.

What else was he hiding?

What else did he do behind the closed doors of his office, in his free time?

Did Rachel even really know her father?

Or was it like Wells and everyone else at school, who seemed to be so fake and insincere, and ready to change how they behave at the slightest provocation?

He really was just another fucking politician.

Rachel really shouldn’t have been surprised – he was her father, after all.

If she was good at acting and pretending, that must have fucking come from somewhere.

She just wished it didn’t come from someone who could fucking lie to his wife and daughter so gleefully.

How could Rachel trust _anyone_ if she couldn’t even trust her father?

Well - maybe she could trust Chloe.

At first it was kind of weird how she visualized Choe just being with her when they were on the train, but it made more sense now.

Even when she visualized confronting her father with her mother, Chloe was there too, for some reason, even if it was obviously inappropriate and she probably wouldn’t be there in reality.

But it’s like she was just always around Rachel, now, no matter what.

Maybe that’s what they were, now.

Despite her all of her complicated, confused feelings, she appreciated every second Chloe spent around her, and only got more thankful the more she relied upon her.

 

Chloe took her to a junkyard, which while initially revolting, Rachel kinda didn’t care about things right now, and Chloe assured her they weren’t going to sit on some junky metal or something.

Instead, they walked a ways into the junkyard, before going into a small building on the far end of it.

Whence they were inside, Rachel paused to take in her surroundings, while Chloe kept on walking to lazily flop on some couch near the door.

Things were messy and disorganized, but the place looked comfy.

Several chairs, a couch, a table, lots of random posters, beer bottles.

It looked surprisingly livable for being in, you know, a junkyard.

And somehow, Chloe just had this unique taste for décor, where everything was both messy and purposeful at the same time.

“This is …”

Chloe smirked,

“… it ‘reflects’ me, doesn’t it?”

Despite everything, Rachel couldn’t help a small amused sound at Chloe completing her thought again and shook her head slightly.

She uncrossed her arms and slowly walked over to the couch where Chloe was, and sat down carefully next to her, although she immediately re-crossed her arms and leaned down into herself.

Chloe hesitated, but read the body language easily enough.

“I’ll … go get us something to drink.”

Rachel barely even nodded.

Chloe got up and rummaged around for a short while before returning with two beers, both of which she opened, and one of which she placed on the table in front of Rachel.

Rachel eventually took to drinking it, but she wasn’t sipping.

Her first drink was damn near half the bottle, and she slammed it down with a defeated sigh and slumped back into the couch.

Her body posture wasn’t stressed this time, it was almost dead – Rachel just flopped back like a fish and groaned, closing her eyes.

Chloe watched her do all of this with various amounts of surprise and worry, but after a few sips herself she resolved herself to help Rachel as much as possible and got closer.

Touching Rachel was still … an event, but damn if there was ever a time Chloe could justify initiating it, it was times like now.

She took one of Rachel’s hands and adjusted her sitting posture she was leaning more into her, almost in contact, but very close all-the-same.

“Hey …”

Rachel flopped her head over and looked at Chloe wordlessly.

Chloe hesitated, but she was resolved, damn it.

“… some crazy shit just happened. Don’t you want to talk about it?”

Rachel scoffed and closed her eyes before flopping her head away again, though she did appreciate Chloe holding her hand and occasionally squeezing it – squeezes Rachel always bothered to return.

“What’s to talk about. Everything’s a fucking lie. My dad, Wells – everyone’s … ugh.”

She sat herself up again only to finish off her beer and slump down into that earlier posture from before, where she was almost trying to hug herself.

Chloe hesitated again, but once again she was able to easily convince herself to keep pushing, since Rachel needed her right now.

She looked down to where Rachel’s hand was before back up to her,

“I’m not a lie.”

At the words, Rachel sighed again and did something new – she slumped into Chloe’s side.

Chloe blinked and didn’t quite know how to handle it, but she responded more on impulse than logic at this point.

She brought her hand around to Rachel’s far shoulder and placed it there to secure Rachel’s position folded into her.

Rachel slumped again, her face half-buried into some part of Chloe’s shoulder or chest.

Thankfully, Chloe was tall enough that they could kind of melt into each other.

Rachel had no fucking idea what she was doing anymore, but the warmth and comfort from Chloe were both appreciated and unexamined.

There was no point in worrying about whatever signals she was sending to Chloe, or whatever this meant for them, now, since Rachel’s world was totally different, now, and there was basically only one person she felt like she genuinely knew and understood and could trust with anything.

Whatever that meant they were.

“… I know.”

 

Rachel breathed in deep, closed her eyes, and moved her face away from Chloe’s chest so she could speak more easily, but her overall body was still buried into her side, and at no point did Rachel regret starting that.

Chloe heard everything on Rachel’s mind, every unvarnished thought and doubt, and she was a good vent for this.

Not only was her affection and warmth grounding, but it was also protective, and guiding.

Rachel had no idea what to think of anything, anymore, but she knew whatever she was doing from now on was going to involve Chloe in some capacity or another.

The only one who could make sense of her.

Eventually after another beer or two and everything had been emptied, Rachel felt so exhausted from the emotional exertion and fell asleep, still resting on Chloe like a pillow.

At first, this was a little annoying for Chloe, but she quickly got over it and adjusted their positions carefully so Rachel was basically lying on top of her on the couch.

She fell asleep like this, more confused about what they were than ever before, but it felt like Rachel uniquely trusted her in a way she didn’t trust anyone else, and that put a weird, fuzzy feeling in Chloe’s stomach.

She couldn’t quite go to sleep easily with the nervous feelings it inspired, but she managed, mostly just by looking at Rachel and seeing how much she was cutely at peace in her sleep.

And for once, with Rachel’s exhausted yet warm body acting as her blanket, Chloe didn’t have any nightmares.

This little home Chloe had been nursing to have a place away from the increasingly-strict David turned out to be Rachel’s home, too.

Because apparently, Rachel had issues, too.

Who knew.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel wakes up.
> 
> She feels good, safe, comforted.
> 
> At first.
> 
> Things pretty much just go down hill from there.
> 
> But Chloe is there.
> 
> Maybe she always is.
> 
> Maybe she's meant to be.

Rachel woke up very slowly and gently, sort of in spite of everything going on.

Because, at least, for right now, everything going on wasn’t on Rachel’s mind.

Her dreams were gentle; she dreamed of just flying away, in the fluffy clouds and in the bask of the warm sun, and when she finally landed at her destination, her mother tightly and affectionately hugged her, welcoming her home.

That’s about where Rachel started to wake up – with nice, gentle thoughts.

She felt so warm and secure in her mother’s arms, like this.

She made a content murmuring sound, rubbing some part of her face against her mother’s person.

But …

When she breathed in, the smell was … different.

Very different.

Not what Rachel expected, but not something that alarmed her, either.

Slightly confused, Rachel blinked an eye open and realized she was actually laying on top of Chloe.

One of Chloe’s arms was wrapped around her, now softly, but it didn’t feel any less protective and reassuring.

Chloe was still sleeping.

Her mouth was just gaping like some kind of huge idiot, and she had a quiet snore every so often.

Rachel smiled, just barely.

Rachel’s head was somewhere on Chloe’s chest and she could slowly feel it raise and lower.

Rachel closed the eye and just sighed contently.

There were worse ways to wake up.

In her sleep, Rachel’s arms had drifted down to Chloe’s sides, and more out of instinct than any conscious thought, she rubbed at Chloe there.

It felt nice.

Everything did.

Chloe’s arm was skinny but Rachel felt a little muscle here and there.

Rachel wondered if Chloe could pick her up and visualized it with another content sound.

Chloe’s grasp reminded her less of how her mother hugged her and more of –

Her father.

Damn it.

The reminder brought immediate pangs of annoyance and distant rumblings of anger.

Her father.

The only reason she was here, right now, laying on top of Chloe, was because of what her fucking father did.

How he lied to Rachel.

How he cheated on his wife.

Ugh.

Part of Rachel told her to not move, so as to not wake up Chloe and perhaps enjoy a bit more of her warmth, but – no.

Rachel had things to do.

Even if lingering sounded like a good idea …

Rachel gently pushed herself up and off of Chloe and into a sitting position, and of course, this caused Chloe to stir and slowly wake up.

Some part of Rachel, surely, had things to think about when it came to how Chloe made her feel just now, but unfortunately her thoughts went more towards her father, and what to do about him, since _something_ needed to be done.

Rachel just didn’t know what.

Rachel rubbed at her forehead while Chloe stretched a little and woke up herself.

Chloe, for her part, just didn’t know what to say.

And for a few seconds, neither of them did say anything.

Chloe slowly got into a sitting position next to Rachel and mentally ran through sentences but decided all of them were dumb and stupid.

The first thought was to be a little cheeky and playful, since Rachel just literally woke up in her arms, and … that meant something, right? It had to.

Maybe a ‘come here often’?

But, no – Chloe got a look at Rachel’s body posture when she sat up, and it wasn’t good; Rachel was clearly weighed down, almost physically so, leaning forward with one arm lazily crossed and another rubbing at some part of her face pretty forcefully.

She must still be thinking of her dad.

It was a hard thing to forget, admittedly, and Chloe still didn’t quite know what to say.

Maybe she could see if this helped at all, or if she was just wasting her time.

Maybe Rachel was better off dealing with this on her own.

Maybe Chloe shouldn’t even _want_ to help Rachel with this – it was rather personal, after all.

That seemed like the right thing to talk about, right now.

Chloe couldn’t help but slump forward a little herself.

She sighed.

“So …”

Rachel sighed, too.

“Yeah …”

She sounded so miserable.

Chloe looked over to her briefly,

“Feel any better?”

Rachel hesitated, but shook her head.

“No. This is – you know. I told you. But …”

She sighed again, more wearily this time and sitting upright.

Her arms just kind of came down to her lap.

“I don’t know how I can feel better about any of this.”

Chloe sighed, herself, and looked back to the table.

There it was.

Chloe wasn’t really helping.

She was just wasting her time.

Not even beer or – sleeping with her apparently – could calm Rachel down from the shit she was dealing with.

Chloe slumped even more.

“Sorry. I thought – coming out here would help. You know … relax a bit. Or something. I dunno. This was stupid.”

Rachel shook her own head and scoffed gently.

She leaned back in the couch and heard Chloe’s voice get a little distant and drained herself, and – no.

Rachel couldn’t have that.

Even if everything was bullshit now, Rachel wanted Chloe to feel appreciated.

She had _no fucking clue_ what she would have done if Chloe wasn’t around to steady her and be her vent, but none of the options in her mind were pleasant.

After a second or two of visible thought, Rachel smiled barely and looked over to Chloe.

“I mean … I feel a _little_ better. Thanks.”

Their eyes met for a quick moment and Chloe smiled too.

But Rachel had things to do.

After that shared moment of peace, Rachel had thoughts of her father intrude into her mind like the dark wrapping tendrils they were becoming and stood up to check the time and figure out what she was going to do now.

She couldn’t just sit around all afternoon.

 _Something_ had to be done.

“But – I should go. It’s getting late.”

Chloe nodded.

It felt nice that Rachel thanked her for her time, at least.

Made her feel not completely useless, even if Chloe just sort of uselessly watched Rachel get up.

“Yeah …”

She thought about it, for a second or two, then remembered how Rachel was earlier, and her _anger_.

Shit.

What if the second she steps out that comes right the fuck back, only Chloe isn’t around to temper it?

What if she goes home like that?

Chloe just couldn’t let Rachel fuck up her family life by forcing a confrontation.

Chloe stood up, too.

“Wait –“

Rachel blinked, slowly looking back to her.

“- What?”

Chloe hesitated and looked down for a second or two before back up to Rachel,

“If you’re going home – promise me you won’t … you know?”

Rachel raised an eyebrow.

Chloe kind of shrugged,

“Smashy smashy? With him?”

Rachel kind of scoffed, slightly amused but not really in the mood for Chloe’s playfulness right now, even if she knew she was just trying to help.

“I …”

Won’t?

Shit.

Rachel’s mouth was faster than her brain, and Chloe’s worry was well taken after a second or two, because Rachel just realized she wanted to go home, but that meant going home to her _dad._

She’d have to sit there and fucking know he was lying his face off to her and her mother while they had a pleasant dinner.

She’d have to sit there and just stew.

Chloe was … probably right to be worried about that going somewhere bad.

She wasn’t sure she could handle him asking her some benign question when she knew the truth.

“I’ll … try not to.”

They both blinked, and then Rachel thought about it for a second longer.

Then she uncrossed her arms and took a step closer to Chloe.

“No – maybe. No.”

Instinctually, Rachel wanted to do what she always did – deal with things on her own, have her own scheming, but once again, she realized what she was imagining was Chloe following her when she left to help her deal with this.

Chloe was a part of this, now.

And she deserved a say in how it was resolved.

She had earned that.

Rachel smiled, gently.

“I won’t just try.”

Chloe blinked but smiled herself.

Rachel looked down for a second or two, at their shoes, before back up to Chloe.

“In fact - I won’t do anything about it without talking to you first.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel went the extra step, though, literally taking another step until they were practically adjacent, and she took Chloe’s hands into her own.

Chloe didn’t jump.

She just looked down to it.

Rachel looked down to Chloe’s hands, too, and ran her thumbs over them gently, then sighed dreamily and moved even closer, wrapping her arms around in a tight, vicious hug.

Like everything else right now, emotions were just – there, and difficult, and confusing, but Rachel really appreciated Chloe being here for her, and she deserved to know that.

And this hug was different not just in intensity but in intimacy – Rachel wasn’t hugging her like a friend, she was clinging on to Chloe for dear life, even burying part of her face in Chloe’s person and just relaxing when her arms came around again.

Once again, it was nice and safe and relaxing, but once again, Rachel had to deny herself this creature comfort for the reality of her situation – after a few seconds, she sighed a bit too wearily and pushed away just gently, looking up to Chloe.

They both just stared at each other.

As much as Rachel’s feelings for Chloe were confusing and overwhelming, Chloe seemed to have similar thoughts rattling around in her head – at least from the expression on her face and the way she looked at Rachel.

They both just breathed, mouths slightly agape, wondering what to say.

Rachel found the words first, but it took her an uncharacteristically long time, since this wasn’t something she planned or practiced, it was raw, and very few people were exposed to it, if any.

“I – I don’t know what would have happened already without you, Chloe, but … you have no idea how much I appreciate you helping me so far. I know I’ve asked –”

Rachel looked down a bit and raised her hands in minor exasperation,

“- I’m ask _ing_ a lot – but.”

She looked back up.

“Just … know that it means a lot to me. Okay?”

She smiled, sort of nervously, not really expecting Chloe to reject her but thinking she might just and idly wondering when Chloe became the kind of person who a rejection from would actually hurt.

Chloe took a second or two to process and smiled herself.

“Whatever you need, Rach. I’m your – y’know – partner in crime? I’m behind you every step of the way.”

Her smile turned into a dumb smirk and her head tilted to the side just barely as she crossed her arms.

Any doubts Chloe had about not actually helping Rachel were roundly trounced by Rachel’s genuine moment, and similarly any doubts about not continuing to help disappeared.

There was only one way forward, now – with Rachel.

Still, after the tender moment, where they just smiled warmly at each other, Rachel’s reality intruded on her again.

Chloe could painfully watch as Rachel’s smile slowly died and her posture get more tense as she crossed her arms, and it was a hard sort of thing to do, but Chloe ultimately knew that being here for Rachel meant helping her through the bullshit emotions she was feeling right now.

Eventually, Rachel spoke, and the difference between just-hugged-Chloe Rachel and thinking-about-her-dad Rachel could not be any more pronounced in how serious she suddenly sounded.

“Now, if there aren’t more … objections? Let’s go.”

Rachel looked back up to Chloe, looking somewhere between tired and frustrated.

Chloe evened out her expression and just nodded.

The change from ‘I should go’ to ‘let’s go’ wasn’t entirely expected but didn’t feel wrong.

Where were they going?

Chloe didn’t know, and it didn’t matter, so long as Rachel was there.

Rachel turned on her heel and started walking swiftly away, out from the way they came and back down the tracks.

Chloe followed right behind her.

It seemed at least Rachel’s foot was better if she was walking with intent like this …

Chloe could almost feel her getting more and more tense and angry the more she thought about things.

Maybe this was the real Rachel – _intense,_ for both the good and bad emotions.

 

Rachel spoke after a while of walking, probably thinking about what she wanted to say before.

“I need to come up with some kind of plan to confront my dad about this. Maybe with my mother. Maybe not. I don’t know. I want to find out everything I can about that woman and make _sure_ she knows just how much of a fucking home wrecker she is.”

Chloe frowned.

This was basically what she was dreading.

Rachel confronting her dad about this.

“If you confront him… what if it goes bad? What if this – I don’t know - tears your family apart?”

Rachel scoffed and shook her head.

“It _already did_ , Chloe.”

She looked back at her, and her features were so intense,

“This is just so he knows. And _pays_.”

Chloe frowned more deeply and walked a bit faster to walk right by Rachel’s side.

There was a disconnect here in how they saw the situation, and Chloe felt emboldened to more forcefully communicate her ideas on the subject matter now that Rachel had made it explicit she was part of this.

Even if Rachel might not like it.

“No – Rachel – it didn’t.”

Rachel blinked, clearly a little confused.

Chloe hesitated but gesticulated a little with her hands,

“Your mom doesn’t know, right? And he doesn’t know that you know? So the only way this – gets bad – is if you confront him and it doesn’t go well.”

Rachel frowned again and looked forward.

Chloe dumbly followed her eyes but realized she was just looking away before looking back at her.

“I know it’s – bullshit, but. The world isn’t always fair. You don’t want to lose a dad.”

She sighed, and her voice got distant.

“Trust me on that one.”

Rachel, of course, heard the pain in Chloe’s voice and knew she was coming from a place of knowledge and experience, but she still didn’t like it.

But Chloe was her partner in crime, and Rachel simply didn’t know how she could bring this up without it getting pretty bad pretty fast.

What if she involved her mother and her dad got angry, too?

Then Rachel’s entire family breaks apart?

… but what were the alternatives?

Maybe Chloe had an idea.

Rachel tightly gripped at her own arms with her arms crossed in a few seconds, then bowed her head and exhaled harshly.

They were still walking back, though to where, Rachel really didn’t know anymore.

“… what are you saying, Chloe? What do you want me to do?”

Chloe hesitated a bit, making sure she chose the right words, since Rachel seemed vulnerable – or at least, convincible.

“Pretend like this never happened. Try and just – go back to before. When nothing sucked.”

Rachel flatly looked over to Chloe.

“And then what?”

Chloe shrugged.

“Nothing. That’s the point. Nothing goes bad. You’re just … existing.”

Rachel scoffed in slight but steadily-growing frustration.

She uncrossed her arms and looked away as they continued to walk.

Chloe just didn’t understand.

Or maybe Rachel didn’t understand.

Either way, it was frustrating.

“I can’t just do _nothing_ , Chloe. I –“

Chloe took Rachel’s hand and it had the intended effect of cutting her off as Rachel looked down to it then up at Chloe.

Chloe stopped walking, and so did Rachel.

They looked at each other.

“- I know. I know you just want to … go, deal with this _right now_ , like you did with Drew, or Wells, or … whatever else.”

It was weirdly calming to hear Chloe talking like this because it meant she understood Rachel’s desires, but the slight pouted frown on her face didn’t go anywhere.

Chloe kept pushing, though, since her conviction on this was severe and painfully learned, and Chloe frankly just cared too much about Rachel now to see her go through something similar.

“But –“

Chloe grunted and sighed and looked away briefly before back at Rachel,

“- This is serious. And big. You only get one dad. You only get one family.”

She then looked down, to the space between them, and her voice got all distant and sad and it tore Rachel’s heart apart to even hear her,

“… and, _please_ , Rachel, _trust me_. You don’t want to screw up your family. It never stops hurting.”

She looked up, expression neutral, as Rachel’s was by now.

Rachel needed a second or two to work through Chloe’s plea.

Initially it was frustrating, like Chloe didn’t understand Rachel, but the more she spoke, the more Rachel realized Chloe _did_ understand, but she simply thought of the situation differently.

And Rachel knew … she thought she like did because of experience with her own family.

It wasn’t a perfect comparison to Rachel’s situation, of course, since Chloe’s father literally died and Rachel’s father was only metaphorically dead to her.

And Chloe’s father didn’t deserve to die.

James deserved to feel _something_ for this.

Maybe that’s what Chloe didn’t quite understand.

But – still.

Chloe smiled just barely, nervously, and there was that cute twinkle in her eye of cautious optimism that she had convinced Rachel and she was helping.

And maybe, just maybe, she had.

Maybe not _forever_ – Rachel simply couldn’t lie to herself _forever_ – but for now, for a little while.

Like Chloe said, this was big, and serious, and Rachel only had one shot at this.

She had to think everything through as much as possible and do it as carefully as she could.

She couldn’t just storm home and burn this spitefully.

“I trust you Chloe, but … I can’t do that forever. For a little while, maybe - a couple weeks? … I don’t know.”

She looked off before she could see Chloe’s reaction and just sighed.

“He can’t get away with this, but … maybe something doesn’t need to happen right away. I need to think things through anyway.”

Chloe was herself conflicted, since all this did was kick the can down the road, but it also meant more time where Rachel’s family wouldn’t break apart, and she wouldn’t be in quite the same hole Chloe was, and more time where maybe Chloe could convince her about how important it was to not lose her dad over this, even if it was impossible to forgive what he had done.

More time where Rachel could be happy.

That was better than a few hours ago, or even a few minutes ago.

Chloe was helping.

She smiled a little, despite her conflict.

“Okay.”

That was that, for some time.

 

They started walking down the tracks again and Rachel used the time to think about her dad.

With Chloe’s intervention, her plan wasn’t going to unfold today or tomorrow, but she still had to think it through.

First, she had to establish her objectives; what she wanted to do is make him feel like absolute shit and realize just what he burned, and really emphasize that Rachel really did think the world of him and trusted no one more and she was so fond of him she kept a fucking photo in her backpack because it always made her feel a little warm inside to see it –

The photo in her backpack.

It wasn’t long after that they started walking until Rachel stopped again and put her backpack down to start rummaging through it.

Chloe blinked and stopped a few seconds too late.

“Whatcha looking for?”

Rachel sort of grunted while she shoved stuff around.

“Another lie.”

Chloe sighed a bit wearily at the standoffish answer and crossed her arms.

In context of everything it wasn’t hard to guess that Rachel was looking for something related to her dad, somehow.

After a few seconds, Rachel stopped and just stared at something.

Chloe leaned over to peek a bit but –

Rachel _stood_ up, immediately, harshly, holding a polaroid picture in her hands.

Chloe blinked and tried to look at the photo again but –

Rachel grunted so loudly, angrily, and kicked at her bag again – didn’t she already learn her lesson about kicking things in anger? – and started to storm off once again.

Chloe kind of sighed at this and leaned over to recollect the stuff that had fallen out of Rachel’s backpack and take it with her.

She ran for a bit to catch up afterwards.

“ _Rach_.”

And her voice was slightly irritated, since this was now the second time Chloe had to play catchup to an increasingly angry Rachel in the span of 24 hours.

Rachel grunted again, but kept walking, looking down at the photo more than anything else.

“It’s such _bullshit_.”

Chloe frowned a little.

“More crap with your dad?”

Rachel nodded, then realized Chloe probably couldn’t see that.

“… yeah.”

Rachel suddenly stopped, which was useful.

She turned on her heel and offered the picture to Chloe to look at, and Chloe offered Rachel’s backpack in return.

As they exchanged the items, Chloe looked at the photo thoughtfully and hummed as such.

It looked … like any other family photo, or any other _happy_ family photo, she supposed – Rachel was beaming so wide, and damn was she an adorable little kid. Her father looked so proud and happy himself with his arms around her.

“When was this taken?”

Chloe offered the photo back, content she knew what it was, and Rachel took it back, once again starting to briskly walk off.

By now, at least, Chloe realized they weren’t going back to the trains, and they seemed to be going into the park.

Rachel sighed, looking down to the photo again.

“Couple years ago at some summer camp. I had just won a leadership excellence award during it and this was right after I was added to the dean’s list at my school, too …”

Chloe blinked at Rachel’s at-least-slightly-less-annoyed tone.

“… my dad was so proud of me, then.”

Chloe hummed flatly.

“I would be, too.”

Rachel kind of scoffed and gently shook her head.

“I mean, yeah … I was a cheerleader back then, too, and he went to every single game to make sure I knew he supported me.”

Chloe tried really really hard to avoid making a flirty joke about wanting to see Rachel in a cheerleader outfit, but the thoughts were definitely there, and somehow, she wasn’t even surprised at the news, like, _of course_ Rachel was a cheerleader at some point.

Rachel just continued talking in Chloe’s hesitation.

“And that’s always been his thing. Whenever he could spend time to make sure I knew I was appreciated, he would.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

“I imagine you had a lot of quality time, then.”

Rachel sighed.

“Yeah …”

Chloe bit her lip for a bit.

She kind of wanted to talk about her own dad to relate to Rachel with, but for now, Chloe just wanted to focus on Rachel and make sure she didn’t get … like that, again.

So that’s what she did, for now.

“And … all of that doesn’t mean anything anymore?”

Rachel looked back to Chloe briefly before back to her photo.

They were definitely walking in the park by now, but due to the fact the sun was setting and it was getting late, it was pretty empty – maybe even closed, but it’s not like that would stop them.

“No, I mean - it just … _ugh_.”

She frowned and looked up and forward.

Chloe’s eyes followed her, and she could see now why they were walking into the park – there was that giant tree with the plaque on it, just a little ways away.

“It means I’ve spent _years_ of my life thinking I knew him. I’ve spent … countless hours talking and bonding and relating and –“

She turned to face Chloe properly, now.

“- it was all a lie.”

Her face was somewhere between tired and frustrated again.

Chloe caught up and they stopped, simply looking at each other.

For a second or two, they didn’t say anything.

Rachel was clearly expecting Chloe to say … something.

But Chloe didn’t really know what to say.

Maybe - here is when she could relate it back to herself.

“Yeah. I can’t even imagine if Max was keeping a secret best friend from me, or something.”

This seemed to be the right thing to say and Rachel smiled just a bit before nodding and turning around again, marching up towards that damn tree.

“Exactly. You wouldn’t be able to trust her ever again.”

Rachel scoffed.

“I don’t even _know_ who my dad is anymore.”

She got a bit more thoughtful after that, slightly softer.

“Maybe I never did.”

Chloe kept following her.

It was a poignant thought that gave them both something to think about.

They soon stopped in front of the tree’s plaque, right where James and the mysterious woman in white had met.

Rachel just looked down to the photo in silence, again.

Chloe got up close behind her and without hesitation placed a hand on her shoulder.

Rachel sighed gently.

“There was nothing I kept from my dad. _Nothing_.”

She sighed and looked up to the tree.

“Even if it made him a little disappointed or mad at me. _Nothing_.”

Chloe nodded again and rubbed firmly at her shoulder.

“I didn’t keep anything from Max. And she didn’t keep anything from me.”

Rachel closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, slowly raising the photo up.

“And that’s the way it should be. That’s how trust works.”

She opened her eyes and with her free hand patted at her pockets before pulling out a lighter, which somehow surprised Chloe, since, did she just always have one on her or something?

Either way, Rachel flicked it open and brought it close to the photo, not yet lighting either it or the lighter.

“And as soon as someone decides to break that trust … they burn that relationship.”

It took her a few tries, but she eventually got the lighter lit and ignited the photo.

At this point, Rachel’s resenting-but-mostly-controlled anger was a much-improved step up from her wanton smashing and brooding, so Chloe didn’t think to tell her to stop burning the photo or anything.

She mostly just wondered what she would do if she was in Rachel’s shoes, and if Max keeping something like this from her would hurt as much.

She decided it might, but Chloe didn’t think she agreed with the idea that the relationship was burned forever at that point.

Strained and stressed, sure, but …

Chloe would still take Max back in a heartbeat.

She would still take her dad back in a heartbeat.

Maybe this is some perspective she could share with Rachel, later.

The photo burned slowly for a bit until it got close to Rachel’s hand and she allowed it to drop – kind of carelessly, she dropped it right onto the ground, where there was grass and everything.

Chloe blinked and thought to stomp it out before it caused a fire, but –

 

She felt the temperature drop around them.

Rachel exhaled a shaky, uneven breath as she watched the photo burn, sniffling and clearly about to cry –

Chloe almost hugged her but –

She felt a sudden gust of wind hit them, and it was odd enough that it distracted her thoughts.

There was no wind at all today – it was completely dead, yet that felt like it came out of a hurricane, or something.

Some of the leaves around them rustled with it.

Rachel was breathing so heavily now, like her entire body was supporting nothing but this motion, shoulders rising and falling harshly with every breath.

Chloe’s attention went back to her, and just when she thought Rachel might actually start crying, she raised both of her hands up to cover her face, bowing her head slightly.

Chloe blinked.

 

“Rachel …?”

 

Rachel bowed forward a bit more and was _definitely_ crying now.

Shit.

Chloe didn’t know what to do, though …

She was already trying to offer some comfort.

Maybe she could –

Chloe decided to stop thinking and just do something.

She moved in close behind Rachel and tightly wrapped her arms around Rachel’s middle and belly, holding her as strongly as she could and trying to provide the comfort she needed.

Rachel responded in a way Chloe didn’t quite expect – she got limp and loose, no longer supporting her own weight and just resting against Chloe, which eventually brought them both down into a kneeling position.

As the picture burned, Rachel worked through what this all meant, realistically.

She had to tell her mother.

There was no way she could keep this from her.

And when she did, Rachel’s mother would feel as hurt and betrayed as Rachel did, right now.

And it was all _his_ fault.

The tears were still coming but they started to fuse with her anger in this weird swirling bowl of emotions – especially confusing considering Chloe’s comfort and warmth right there.

Rachel slowly brought her hands down.

Her face twisted and contorted as the fire started to consume her father’s face and the last of the photo.

Breathing heavily, still with tears streaming down her face and body limp and drained, Rachel suddenly tensed up and got up to support her own weight on her knees.

“You liar!”

Chloe tried to kind of tug her back down and – surely – that would have been the smart thing to do, to rely on Chloe, to let her try and soothe this anger, since she probably could if given enough time.

But no.

Not now.

Rachel got back up –

Chloe got up right behind her –

Rachel started to pace a little, eyes fixated on the picture –

Her fists clenched.

She closed her eyes.

She kind of kicked at some of the ground and the dirt and emitted a horribly pained and desperate sound of frustration –

Chloe gasped, and when Rachel opened her eyes again, the fire had spread off of the photo and onto the surrounding grass.

Surely, the smart thing to do would have been to try and pat the fire down before it spread even more, but that’s not where Rachel’s mind was.

That venting felt _good_.

And she was alone, with Chloe her company, who was trusted to her most vulnerable sides by now anyway –

Rachel just stared at the fire as it started to spread and put everything she had into a venting _scream_.

Every bit of frustration, every bit of her hurt and betrayal and anger, every bit of her suffering and misery –

She felt another gust of wind hit her and when she opened her eyes the fire had started to consume the tree, spreading way faster and burning way brighter than any fire she’d ever seen before.

Instinctually there was fear at the display of embers, but on a deeper level, it felt _good_ to vent.

“H-holy shit – Rachel – we, we gotta –“

Chloe was there but her words went into one ear and out the other.

Rachel wasn’t fucking done.

She already felt a little weak and weary from her first scream but if she let _everything_ out then logically she’d feel even better.

So that’s what she did.

 

She screamed.

 

She screamed, and screamed, and screamed, until her body started to fail and she collapsed down onto her knees, until the emotions overwhelmed her to the point her eyes were just covered in tears and useless to see anything with.

Rachel felt like she could pass out, now, despite the fire jumping from not just that one tree but to several, and still spreading at an alarming rate.

 

Chloe meanwhile just stared with her mouth gaping in a mixture of awe and fear.

Letting Rachel vent and scream seemed like a good idea but every time she did the fire spread even more and more and seemed to burn even brighter and hotter.

Could … Rachel control fire?

Is that why she brought Chloe out here, to show her that?

But that was crazy, right?

Maybe there was natural explanation?

Chloe’s thoughts were interrupted as Rachel finished her second scream and, seemingly drained of everything, slumped down onto her knees and collapsed even further into a weeping, shuddering mess.

A particularly dangerous ember that flung off the tree and close to the two of them reminded Chloe of the fact they needed to get out of here _now_.

Never mind whatever the hell just happened.

It was too late to put the fire out and if they stayed they could get trapped and burned to death.

“Rachel! Shit!”

She leaned down again to drag Rachel up into a kneeling position,

“Come on! Come on! The – the fire! Let’s get out of here! _Rachel_!”

Rachel wasn’t too responsive, perhaps unsurprisingly, but after Chloe helped her to her feet and Rachel wiped the tears away and got a proper look at the fire, she seemed to recover enough to at least get the hell out of here.

 

So they did.

 

They fucking booked it.

 

They ran as fast as they could, tearing through the trees and down the path and at least they were running _downhill_ now but –

Rachel stopped as they got clear of the park, just outside.

She was already exhausted from everything and her adrenaline only helped her so much, here.

Chloe stopped a few seconds too late and jogged back to the panting Rachel who was hunched over, breathing heavily to the point of being incapable of speech with both of her hands tightly grasping her thighs.

“Holy shit …”

Chloe helped Rachel stand up again but Rachel just groaned.

“No, Chloe … I can’t.”

She sounded so drained, dead almost.

Chloe looked around and knew that they were at least safe from burning to death or getting trapped, although they still had a while to go before they were home.

If Rachel needed a second or two, that was fine.

Rachel slowly got down to a sitting position, then with another groan laid down flat on the grass aside the little road leading down the hills and back into town.

Chloe sat down next to her.

For a few moments, they just breathed severely and caught their breath, though Rachel was noticeably more exhausted of the two.

Her eyes had been closed for the while, with her hands resting plainly on her belly, and her knees up and legs together.

Chloe sat next to her with her legs straight and hands back, looking at Rachel for a bit, then back into the forest, and down to the town ahead of them.

This was a time to think but fuck if Chloe knew what to think of … any of this.

Did Rachel have fire magic?

What was going to happen to the park?

Was the fire just going to keep spreading?

Were they in trouble now?

Chloe decided she needed to talk to Rachel to figure out literally anything, so after giving her a few more moments, she looked over to Rachel.

“Hey …”

Rachel smiled before she opened her eyes and looked dreamily over at Chloe.

“… Hey.”

Rachel’s eyes went down Chloe’s body to one of her hands and her own hands went to steal it.

Chloe blinked but wasn’t about to disallow the touch, though she did shift her weight around to support this.

Rachel brought the hand up to her face and kissed it gently before bringing it down to her belly and holding it there.

“… thank you. For everything.”

Chloe appreciated the affection from Rachel but in the context of … everything, she didn’t quite understand how she could be so affectionate right now.

Maybe all of that screaming emptied out her anger.

That was a nice thought, even if the consequences were pronounced.

Still, the way Rachel’s fingers gently traced and trailed around Chloe’s own she wasn’t going to forget for a while, and it was distracting to the point Chloe took a few seconds to articulate anything.

“Uh, anytime, Rach … you think you can do some more running now?”

Rachel slowly shook her head.

“No, ugh. My foot is killing me and I feel like - a zombie, or something ...”

Chloe frowned and looked forward.

“Damn it. I hope no one sees us. Or saw us.”

Rachel scoffed a bit distantly.

“Don’t worry, Chloe, no one did … we were completely alone.”

Chloe wanted to believe that since this would be one _hell_ of a thing to explain to her mother.

… or David ugh.

“Alright. If you say so.”

Rachel sighed a bit wearily and brought the hand up to kiss it again, only more gently this time, so Chloe appreciated it more.

She could feel Chloe’s anxiety about everything, and of course Rachel understood, and it was sort of hard to articulate why she felt so calm, now.

Maybe it was the venting that just simply drained her of everything.

Either way, when she brought the hand back down, she closed her eyes again.

“I know so. We’re fine. This is exactly what we were meant to do.”

There it was again.

 _Meant to_.

Chloe still appreciated the kisses to her hand and still didn’t fully know how to handle a Rachel _this_ affectionate so consistently and openly, but she still had a lot on her mind that kept her from being too useless.

She looked back to Rachel.

“ _What_? We just – you just – started a massive fire and -”

Rachel looked over to Chloe kind of lazily,

“- do you think I would be able to do that if I wasn’t supposed to?”

Chloe blinked.

“What are you saying, Rachel?”

Rachel frowned a little herself,

"Just ... what are the chances of all of this happening as it did? That we met at the mill. That we became friends. That you came here with me. That we saw what we did and you were there for me. It's just ... it has to be fate, Chloe. It's destiny."

She closed her eyes and breathed in deep, letting out a weary sigh.

"I've felt more alive in this one day than the rest of my life, and it's all because you were here, helping me. That has to mean something. It has to be a sign …"

Chloe processed this poorly for a few seconds.

“You mean …”

Rachel groaned and sat herself up just enough to place her head on Chloe’s shoulder again.

“… yes. There’s no one I can trust more than you right now, Chloe … and this all happened to show that to me.”

She purposefully found that hand again but intertwined it with one of her own, then just closed her eyes and melted into Chloe’s side.

Chloe for her part just didn’t know what to think.

But she had to admit it was really nice to have Rachel buried into her side like that, holding her hand, being affectionate …

She looked back to the fire and sighed.

Was this fate or coincidence?

Was Rachel put in her life for a reason?

It kind of made sense.

Chloe felt so lost and confused for a while …

She didn’t feel lost around Rachel; Rachel understood her and took her side on things.

Maybe Rachel _was_ meant to be at her side, like this, and Chloe at hers.

She just hoped it involved less fires …

 

Eventually, they got up, and slowly walked back to Chloe’s place.

Rachel didn’t want to deal with her family right now and Chloe didn’t blame her, and Joyce would be working late, so they effectively had the night alone.

For the most part, they just quietly walked side by side, Rachel slowly recovering from her emotional exertion and relying on Chloe whenever her foot started to hurt a bit too much.

When they got into Chloe’s room, Rachel barely lasted another minute before she slopped down on Chloe’s bed and passed out, like a flip had been switched now that she didn’t _need_ to do anything else.

Chloe sighed a bit wearily but decided to strip and change into her night gown - an over-sized tee shirt - before helping Rachel under the sheets.

And after starting at her exhausted yet peaceful body sleeping, Chloe smiled and decided to snuggle up to her front, wrapping her arms around again.

They had … things to talk about.

But that was for later.

Now, sleep.

Chloe could get used to this.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel wakes up next to Chloe.
> 
> It's a pretty nice way to wake up.
> 
> Later, after Rachel meets Joyce, Chloe talks to Justin, and Victoria to Rachel.
> 
> One conversation is fun.
> 
> The other isn't.

Once again, Rachel woke up gently.

This time, waking up to Chloe’s smell wasn’t odd; it was familiar.

But Chloe’s smell wasn’t just in front of her, it was all around her, completely enveloping her.

In fact, it felt like Chloe surrounded her, too, but when Rachel blinked her eyes open probably too early in the morning what she saw was not that Chloe enveloped her, but rather she was in Chloe’s bed, and Chloe was simply snuggled right up in front of her.

They were on their sides, facing each other.

One of Chloe’s arms went underneath Rachel and came around the other side, but didn’t hug at her or anything – it just was.

Still with her mouth gaping.

Still occasionally snoring.

Still looking like a massive idiot.

Rachel smiled gently again and closed her eyes to just soak up the feelings and enjoy what was happening.

Thoughts of her dad and all of that bullshit were somewhere, but … Rachel didn’t have to deal with it _right now_.

If only she could stay right here forever and not have to go to school or anything.

It was just so warm and relaxing.

After yesterday, Rachel very definitely had things to unpack when it came to Chloe.

Nothing about this felt wrong.

No amount of intimacy from Chloe ever became off-putting – in fact, the more Chloe applied, the more Rachel enjoyed it.

Would this keep on going on if they continued down this road?

Rachel opened her eyes again and really examined Chloe’s face.

She smiled while she thought of where their relationship might go, one of her hands moving to Chloe’s sides at first automatically but then intentionally.

The instinct slightly surprised Rachel, but the response to it, the way Chloe just felt all nice and soft, didn’t.

Chloe was only wearing an over-sized tee as it seemed, and that hand trailed up and down Chloe’s side, sometimes feeling the smoothness and warmth of her skin.

Rachel very definitely enjoyed touching Chloe like this, but of course, the attention was quick to wake her up.

Rachel quickly moved the hand back to some part of Chloe’s hip or waistline but didn’t retract the hand entirely, pretending almost that it had always been there as they slept together.

Chloe did her little routine of stretching and Rachel wondered if it would have been better to just not wake Chloe up so they could lay together for a while.

But today wasn’t yesterday, and when Chloe was done with her cat-like stretch, she looked down to Rachel, who was just sitting there and smiling gently up at her and returned the smile.

She flopped down a bit too forcefully and moved one of her arms back behind Rachel, sort of sneaking around by her neck and lazily tugging her closer.

This was – new – but Rachel didn’t mind it.

She smiled just that bit wider.

After a few seconds of settling into her bed again, Chloe cleared her throat.

“Come around here often?”

Rachel was in _exactly_ the right mood for this kind of playfulness, and her smile turned into an endeared smirk.

Chloe’s other arm had been resting on her own side, near Rachel’s hand.

Rachel’s hand consequentially didn’t have to go very far to secure it and bring it over to her, so they were more intertwined.

Chloe’s eyes flicked down to the action briefly but didn’t jump at the touch nor seem to mind it much.

While she was looking down, Rachel’s smirk got a bit wider.

“Not often enough.”

Chloe’s eyes flicked back up and she just exhaled a gentle amused sound.

Something else new came, afterwards.

Chloe got even _closer_.

With her grip on Rachel’s body she was practically tugged until every part of her front was in contact with every part of Chloe’s, them both still on their sides and facing other her, and her arms were around her again, at first tightly and protectively and comfortingly squeezing, at second loose and warm but constantly present.

It was an automatic sort of thing for Chloe, as was her head tilting a bit forward until their foreheads came into contact.

Rachel closed her eyes and sighed happily.

Waking up Chloe was _definitely_ worth it for _this_.

It felt amazing to be completely surrounded by Chloe’s touch like this, surrounded by her smell, in her bed, in her house, so far away from everything she had to worry about.

Just for a minute or two, Rachel just let go of everything and relaxed, enjoying the closeness and intimacy for all it was worth.

Eventually, though …

Rachel groaned a little.

Chloe lightened her grip just enough so that Rachel could pull away and they could stare at each other.

She blinked.

Rachel blinked.

“My foot is killing me.”

Rachel sounded pretty put-out, but with Chloe’s mood, Chloe just smirked again.

“Can I kiss it and make it feel better?”

Rachel smile-smirked too, looking down Chloe’s body for a second or two before back up at her,

“Aren’t you the cutest. Yeah. I _dare_ you to. Go get some bandages or something.”

They both smirked, though Chloe groaned when she realized Rachel was going to take her up on this and not just appreciate it as an idle flirt.

Rachel just looked expectantly at her until Chloe took the hint and regretfully got up and out of the bed.

This is about when Rachel really appreciated that Chloe was effectively half-naked and she could see her panties – when the blanket came off and Chloe stood up and stretched again.

Surely this shouldn’t have been even somewhat noteworthy; this wasn’t the first time she had a sleepover with a girl friend nor the first time she’d see a friend half-naked, but …

Rachel turned over to watch Chloe go rummage with her desk and just stared.

Without her baggy clothes on, Rachel realized Chloe’s body was softer and curvier than she ever imagined, more tapered and pointed and just – beautiful.

Rachel was staring, and with a slight blush, imagined what other curves Chloe’s body might have –

Chloe suddenly stood up and Rachel forced her thoughts in another direction.

Chloe returned to the bed with a first aid kit, but obviously kneeled down by the side of the bed while Rachel slowly got up – and with a groan, realizing her entire body felt sore for some reason – and dangling her feet off the edge for Chloe to handle her hurt foot.

She barely took anything off before she passed out, though she did remember taking off her shoes and her jacket.

Chloe looked up to Rachel as her hands went to the sock, as if quietly asking for her permission, and Rachel just smiled a little and gave a small nod.

The sock came off and Rachel closed her eyes as Chloe tended to it.

She was very affectionate and careful with the foot, and it was tender without the sock or shoe to buffer anything, but Rachel obviously trusted Chloe with this by now.

“Damn … you really kicked that root hard.”

Rachel didn’t even want to open her eyes to see the damage she’d done.

She just scoffed a little.

“I could have kicked harder. Stupid tree with stupid metal roots.”

Chloe giggled gently and rubbed at Rachel’s foot in a way that almost felt like a massage and Rachel sighed even more deeply, relaxing even more.

Fuck that felt nice.

Chloe was just full of making her feel good in different ways, wasn’t she?

“I bet.”

Rachel eventually opened her eyes to see Chloe wrapping some gauze around some of her toes and the red she saw probably meant her toes had been bleeding which … wasn’t a good sign, but at least she felt Chloe cleaning the wounds at some point.

When she was done, Chloe kind of cutely and proudly looked up to Rachel and gesticulated with her hands towards Rachel’s foot like ta-da.

Rachel smiled and wiggled the foot a bit.

Some of her toes were stuck together with the gauze, but hopefully the extra cushion would make walking easier.

“I’m impressed. C’mere.”

Chloe blinked but stood up, only to find her hands grasped and body quite forcefully tugged back down onto the bed.

She simply had no choice but to collide on top of Rachel and the two exchanged little giggles before they readjusted their positions on the bed until they were like before, albeit with Chloe’s hands not holding Rachel’s body.

They were still close, though.

For a while, this was plainly enough.

Rachel just appreciated Chloe’s company.

Chloe just appreciated Rachel’s company.

But there was something in the way Chloe smiled and the way she was so cutely content and proud of having helped.

There was something about the way Chloe could make Rachel feel so care-free even when her world literally just came down crashing on her.

Even now as they just laid right next to each other after a brief play-wrestle, Rachel was staring obviously at Chloe’s face, and eventually she realized particularly at her lips, and not just because she enjoyed the way Chloe smiled.

Rachel … wanted to move forward a bit and kiss her.

The moment was pretty cute, and she felt affectionate enough for it -

Wait, what was she even thinking?

Kissing is not what friends do.

It’s what girlfriends would do.

Chloe isn’t a girlfriend, is she?

… why not?

Everything about spending time and being affectionate with Chloe Rachel only appreciated more and more.

If the urge was there to kiss – that meant something.

Chloe was destined to be with her.

But Rachel had to still think.

She couldn’t deny how Chloe could make her feel.

Chloe could relax her or empower her or steady her or make her feel just all warm and fuzzy inside in a way no one else could.

But a kiss was serious.

Once she kissed Chloe …

No.

That moment had to be special.

Her first kiss with Chloe suddenly became a thing that was going to happen, just not right now.

The moment needed to be right.

It needed to romantic and somewhat serious, not this giddy and gentle playfulness.

While Rachel sat there and thought about kissing Chloe, she wasn’t really saying anything, just staring doe-eyed at Chloe.

Chloe, for her part, had mostly dealt with the confusing ambiguity of their relationship by not thinking about it.

Having Rachel’s affections, her hugs, sleeping with her, hearing what she said yesterday – it was all tremendously fulfilling and made Chloe all giddy and happy.

She could have sat here for another hour just watching Rachel stare back at her while she smiled and breathed.

But - eventually.

They had things to talk about.

Maybe one day they’d wake up together without having started some ridiculous fire or having found out some dirty secret about a family member and that morning could just be nothing but wall-to-wall gentle.

But … for now …

Chloe bit her lip and looked down Rachel’s body before back up at her.

“You feeling any better about all of that, y’know? Dad crap?”

The conversation was pretty awful and not a gear Rachel wanted to engage but she understood Chloe was just concerned and appreciated that concern, if nothing else.

She shrugged.

“I don’t know, Chloe … I’ve been feeling weird ever since that fire and I screamed.”

Chloe sighed more forcefully at that.

“The fire … um. Rachel.”

She looked pretty seriously at her.

“Can you control fire?”

Rachel scoffed and hesitated for a second or two but shook her head.

“Not … directly. Willingly.”

Chloe just stared.

Probably not the best answer.

Rachel sighed.

“Like – okay.”

She turned to lay on her back to look up at Chloe’s ceiling and some of the graffiti there.

Chloe slinked a little into Rachel’s side, placing one of her hands on Rachel’s belly, so both of Rachel’s hands came to hold that hand just affectionately, gently stroke it while she spoke.

“Maybe … a year or two ago, I remember something kinda like this happening.”

Chloe continued to look at her very seriously even if she appreciated the idle affection and warmth.

“You just uh, burned some other forest in LA down?”

Rachel scoffed a bit at Chloe’s playfulness and shook her head again, though did look at her for a few seconds with a clearly endeared expression.

“No, silly.”

She looked back up to the ceiling.

“No, it was … hm. The first time I was here, in Arcadia Bay. I don’t remember it too well, but Blackwell was hosting some kind of … program, to recruit students from out-of-state.”

She closed her eyes.

“Dad and I came over for it. He was so proud that I might to go a school like this one to make sure I’d be set for college.”

Chloe listened patiently.

Rachel hesitated for a few seconds and her voice got gentler.

“Believe it or not, the whole thing was setup in that park, too. It was a little different back then.”

She scoffed.

“Some dumb kid dared me to go into the woods. Said there were all kinds of crazy supernatural stuff if you just tried to find it – ghostly animals, burning apparitions, whatever.”

Rachel opened her eyes.

“I wasn’t scared … at first.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully,

“But?”

Rachel looked back down to Chloe and smirked a bit.

“Don’t get ahead of me. This is my story.”

The two shared a gentle amused sound and Rachel looked back up to the ceiling.

“… but eventually I realized I was kinda lost. Heard some weird noises, thought something came up behind me, and I just – I turned around and screamed at it, scared.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel went quiet for a while.

“Turns out it was my dad who had came out to find me. But when I screamed something still happened – the wind picked up and _slammed_ into him – I still remember the leaves rustling and the two of us just looking at each other like … what just happened.”

She shook her head and sighed.

“We … decided not to talk about that afterwards. He said must have been some fluke of timing and told me not to go into the woods again.”

Rachel then looked down to Chloe.

“But I never fully believed that. I know I’m destined to do _something_ on this world, and that was just another sign.”

Chloe blinked.

“But the forest fire? That seems a bit much if you just have some spooky screaming wind powers.”

Rachel shrugged a little.

“I … don’t know how I did it, but with you right there … I felt like I could have burned the whole fucking forest down if I wanted to.”

Chloe scoffed.

“If you could burn the town down while you’re at it that’d be nice.”

Still, Rachel laughed, and moved her hands over to hug at the Chloe buried into her side for a second or two.

Unsurprisingly, Chloe made a content sound in response, but eventually Rachel’s hands went back to her own body.

She looked back up.

“I hope nothing bad comes of it. I just … don’t know my own strength sometimes, I guess.”

Chloe murmured contently and rubbed part of her face and nose against Rachel’s neck and combined with feeling her breathing colliding down that skin Rachel decided she really fucking liked Chloe melting into her side too,

“Me too. You think we should – tell someone?”

Rachel just about laughed at that.

“Tell them what? I started a supernatural fire because I was upset at my dad? Yeah. That’ll go over well.”

Chloe frowned slightly.

Rachel just shook her head.

“Plus, who the fuck knows. You’d probably end up getting blamed for arson or something.”

Chloe groaned painfully and closed her eyes.

“Ugh … probably.”

That was a pretty sobering thought, but Rachel had given Chloe enough to think about for now, anyway.

Rachel couldn’t directly control fire, it was just somehow tied to her emotions.

And wind too …

Eventually, Rachel groaned again.

Chloe blinked and raised her head up at Rachel and produced an automatic thoughtful sound.

Rachel looked down to her shirt.

“My shirt’s all grimey and sweaty from yesterday.”

She looked back to Chloe and smiled.

“Can you get me another one?”

Chloe blinked, since that meant getting up again, but then she realized this meant that Rachel would be wearing her clothes …

So she found the motivation pretty easily to get up and away from Rachel and towards her closet.

Rachel watched her go again and decided Chloe really ought to get some nice skinny jeans.

“What kinda shirt you want?”

Not like Chloe had a massive selection or anything, certainly not as impressive as whatever Rachel had.

Rachel just smiled on the bed.

“Surprise me.”

Chloe leaned back out of her closet to give Rachel a look of mild annoyance, since that was the least helpful answer ever, but whatever.

Rachel just giggled.

Chloe went through her shirts and –

She quickly found one near her that was just perfect.

 _Meant to be_ , as Rachel would say.

Smirking, Chloe pulled the shirt off of its hanger and away from her closet – as it was one of the few shirts she bothered to actually hang up and everything – and hid it behind herself as she walked back to the bed.

She smiiiiiirked.

“Guess what I got.”

Rachel blinked.

“A shirt.”

She seemed pretty proud of that answer, smirking herself.

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes but after excitedly bumping around for a bit she presented what she had picked out: the Firewalk shirt from when they first met.

Rachel gasped, but smiled widely as she got up on her knees and inched over to Chloe to take the shirt, examining it for a few seconds.

“Smooth.”

When she looked up to Chloe again, Chloe was just smirking, equally as proud of her selection, and sort of confidently crossing her arms and bouncing on her feet a little.

“I try.”

Rachel smiled and hooked a finger underneath her own shirt but hesitated for just a split second or two.

There’s no reason she should feel uncomfortable stripping around Chloe, but … Chloe clearly wasn’t going to look away, and Chloe seeing her half-naked meant a hell of a lot more than some of Rachel’s other friends, but whatever, fuck it – Rachel enjoyed seeing Chloe in her panties, and Chloe deserved similar visual feasts.

Rachel hocked her old shirt up without any more hesitation and playfully threw it at Chloe’s face, right as she started to look at Rachel’s bra and blush a bit.

“Hey!”

Rachel giggled happily, watching Chloe fuss and tear off the shirt from her face, and enjoyed Chloe noticing pretty quickly that Rachel hadn’t put the other shirt back on in the meantime; she waited precisely as long as it took for Chloe to look all of this and be able to observe whatever it is she wanted to before Rachel put the new shirt on.

Chloe was of course blushing, but … she didn’t look away.

Rachel didn’t mind.

She didn’t want to look away, either.

Chloe playfully threw Rachel’s old shirt back at her, at her face, and their morning started pretty lazily from there.

Rachel got to witness Chloe changing into more proper clothes, too, but they were quickly building up the intimacy where this was normal, even if there were always little stares that they earned from it, but it just didn’t feel wrong for Rachel to appreciate Chloe’s body, or vice versa.

 

Eventually, they remembered they had to _shower_ , too, mostly because Joyce yelled at Chloe to take one from the first floor.

Both Chloe and Rachel enjoyed separate hot showers, wondering what was going on with their relationship with each other, but decidedly excited for the trajectory it was on.

Rachel met Chloe’s mother, Joyce, who looked a bit too stressed out and overworked, but was pleasantly surprised at Rachel’s appearance.

While Chloe was kind of whatever about the whole thing, barely even talking to Joyce, Rachel was much more friendly and amicable, and Joyce was more than happy to return it.

Joyce mentioned more than once that Chloe ought to bring friends over more regularly, to which Chloe never seemed to respond to past a grunt.

Internally, though, Joyce was just overjoyed and more than a little surprised that Chloe had any friends good enough for a sleepover, and despite David’s influence, found herself not caring if Rachel came over more often, simply because Chloe seemed happier around her.

Either way, Rachel appreciated the food, even if Joyce had to scramble a bit to make some more for an unexpected guest.

Surprisingly, Chloe offered a bit of her food in the meantime, but she felt bad just eating in front of Rachel while she had nothing to eat.

Rachel convinced Chloe to leave for school with her slightly early so she had time to catch up on any homework she neglected spending basically the entire afternoon with her yesterday.

 

When they arrived at Blackwell together, Chloe got a brief but very intense and intimate hug before Rachel told her she’d text her later, and then she was gone.

Just like that, Chloe was alone, and it felt kinda weird to not just have Rachel somewhere around nearby.

Chloe recognized that was a silly thing to get used to, but, still … she just imagined Rachel popping up anyway to convince her to skip school to go on a date or something.

A date.

Could they do that now?

What even where they?

Chloe needed to talk to – someone, somehow, about this.

After Rachel was out of sight, Chloe uncrossed her arms and looked around the front of campus.

Victoria was looking at her, but Chloe didn’t care about Victoria.

Justin was also a short ways away, practicing on his skateboard, probably about to bail soon.

Chloe didn’t see Steph anywhere around.

… well, Chloe had friends outside of Rachel, right?

She decided to bite the bullet and have the conversation with Justin she had successfully been putting off for like two weeks now.

 

She walked up to him.

“Hey dude.”

Justin damn near tripped off his board, but still stopped and kicked it up.

“Oh, ‘sup.”

He looked around briefly before back to Chloe.

“Haven’t seen you around lately.”

Chloe groaned a bit.

“Yeah. I’ve been busy.”

Justin raised an eyebrow.

“With Rachel.”

Chloe nodded slowly and rubbed at the back of her neck, looking away.

“… yeah.”

Justin smiled.

“Well, you know my offer’s still up. Got a joint with your name on it for some rad stories.”

Chloe slowly looked back to him and laughed.

“Promise you won’t gossip?”

Justin blinked and looked around again.

“Who would I even gossip with, Chloe? C’mon.”

He looked back to her,

“Now tell me all about your _girlfriend_.”

The first … couple dozen times Justin said that word, Chloe obstinately refused to engage with it.

But now – Chloe didn’t know, anymore.

Either way, they sat down together on the curb, and Chloe slowly started to share some Rachel stories.

Nothing from yesterday, but little things here and there, like how Rachel started to help more and more after David came into her life, which required catching Justin up on David, too.

Before she knew it, Chloe was plus one joint and the time she needed to kill was done with.

Good way to start a morning, she supposed.

 

\---

 

Sometime before lunch, Rachel was in one of the girl’s bathrooms, fixing some part of her makeup.

That wasn’t new.

What was new, however, was someone else entering the bathroom, and pointedly standing behind her.

Rachel looked through the mirror to see Victoria, who just stood there quietly, arms crossed and face somewhere between serious and smug, but mostly serious.

Rachel quickly ran through why Victoria might want to talk to her right here right now in her mind but didn’t come up with anything.

Strange.

 

“We have something to talk about, Rachel.”

 

Well, there it was.

Rachel wasn’t all that concerned or impacted as she put some of her makeup away and turned around to sit on the sink again, legs dangling carelessly.

“Yeah? What’s up, Victoria?”

It came out just very slightly playfully, almost care-free – more out of habit than anything.

Still, Victoria looked pretty serious and Rachel didn’t have much of an intent to drag things out.

Neither, apparently, did Victoria.

“Let me just get it out of the way. I heard you talking to Chloe about your dad yesterday.”

Rachel blinked a few times but her expression pretty quickly shifted to a pouted frown.

Shit.

She thought she checked the stalls …

Maybe Victoria hid at the end or something.

Ugh.

Rachel crossed her arms too, legs suddenly disinterested in gently bouncing around as her entire posture just got more defensive and closed-off.

This was not a comfortable conversation topic for several reasons, and Rachel had the feeling Victoria wasn’t bringing this up to be helpful.

“And? What of it?”

Still, Rachel wasn’t going to _assume_ –

Victoria uncrossed her arms and placed her hands down on the same sink Rachel was sitting on, getting a bit closer and lowering her voice.

She looked at Rachel very seriously.

“I want you to drop your role in the Tempest.”

Victoria’s eyes flicked down briefly to Rachel’s body before up again,

“If you don’t want this getting out.”

Fuck.

Rachel’s frown just deepened.

She instinctually leaned a bit back away from the ever-closer Victoria, but at least she wasn’t touching inappropriately or something, and her lower and more quiet voice was appreciated for such a conversation.

In case someone _else_ was in the fucking bathroom or something, unbeknownst to them.

Seemingly having the same thought at the same time, Victoria looked down the length of the bathroom with Rachel, though their eyes soon came back to each other quickly enough.

Still.

Rachel frowned.

“You’re _blackmailing_ me?”

Victoria just nodded simply, though her expression remained completely serious.

Rachel thought about it for a second or two then sighed.

“You know I can’t do that.”

Victoria shook her head, not amused.

“I’m not asking. I’m telling. Either you do it or this gets out.”

Victoria pushed herself off of the sink and crossed her arms.

“And you don’t want this getting out.”

Hard to argue with that.

Rachel kept her frown as she looked down in momentary contemplation.

First her dad, now Victoria, and possibly her role in the Tempest, too … fuck.

Why was everything suddenly falling the fuck apart?

Ugh.

Despite already knowing it wouldn’t work, or at least feeling like it wouldn’t, Rachel couldn’t help herself but try and salvage the situation to avoid losing all possible control.

She got off the sink herself and plainly uncrossed her arms, looking back up to Victoria.

“This is _wrong_ , Victoria. You don’t want to do this to me.”

It landed in a way Rachel wasn’t fully expecting – Victoria blinked and hesitated, closing her eyes in clear thought for a few seconds herself.

Was that doubt?

If Victoria was assured of her stance here she would come back immediately with a retort.

Eventually, Victoria simply opened her eyes and shook her head again.

She was frowning now herself.

“No, I … I do.”

But the little hesitations in her voice here and there confirmed to Rachel that she was conflicted with herself.

Maybe some more pushing could fix this – or at least make it less awful.

Still, whatever conflict real or imagined didn’t stop Victoria from continuing, after those brief little seconds.

“This is important to me. It could be –“

Rachel just scoffed,

“- It’s important to me _too_ , Victoria. Come on.”

Victoria hesitated again.

Rachel thought she might be able to seal the deal here, so she took a step or two closer until they were almost adjacent.

“Are you really going to hold whatever bullshit is going on with my dad over my head like this just for a part in some tiny play?”

She smiled, though it was forced and unauthentic,

“I can talk to Mr. Keaton about getting you bigger parts in the future and –”

Victoria shook her head forcefully and broke one of her hands up to rub at her own temples.

“- Stop. Stop. Just … stop.”

Rachel did, though with it went her smile, the frown coming right back.

Victoria sighed and closed her eyes.

“Look. I’m sorry. But this is how it’s happening.”

She lowered her hand to re-cross it and looked plainly at Rachel again.

“Drop your part or I spill. Only offer on the table.”

Rachel re-crossed her arms and sighed forcefully herself.

Maybe gentle wasn’t the right approach.

Rachel didn’t just have to take this laying down, after all.

“If you gossip about this I’ll make _sure_ everyone knows what kind of person you are and what you did.”

Rachel’s tone throughout most of this was as serious and flat as Victoria’s, but here it became vaguely threatening.

However, this approach seemed to work even worse than the other, and it noticeably changed Victoria’s demeanor.

Victoria scoffed, amused this time, and shook her head, placing one of her hands on her waist.

“Go right the fuck ahead. Tell everyone how much _control_ I have. Over you. Over this whole school.”

She emphasized ‘you’ by pointing with her free had at Rachel, and the hand just sort of tossed up at ‘whole school’ before both arms crossed over again.

“Do my work for me.”

Here, she wasn’t serious, she was almost smug.

It certainly wasn’t the clearly-halting Victoria from earlier, but.

Victoria … didn’t mind that kind of gossip getting out?

It’d _ruin_ her reputation, coming from Rachel – even if it was an outlandish thing to claim, her friends trusted her on this stuff.

The way Victoria phrased it though – _control_ \- like she wanted to be feared instead of respected.

Rachel wasn’t fully expecting that, but she didn’t know Victoria very well, either, or what her true desires were, since she was so fake all of the time.

Ugh.

Rachel needed time to think things through.

Victoria seemed convincible, or, at least, not fully ready to go through with this plan, and those earlier moments where she was hesitating obviously while Rachel appealed to her character belied such doubts.

Maybe more of that would get farther with her – make her doubt herself more and realize just what she was doing and how awful it was, and how serious the consequences were.

Rachel needed more time – not just to think about what decision she’d make, but how to handle Victoria overall.

“Whatever. Forget I said anything. Can you –“

Rachel scoffed barely and uncrossed her arms, looking away before back to Victoria,

“- give me a little bit to decide?”

Victoria sighed herself, closing her eyes for a moment and seeming to relax a little from her earlier defensive posture and going back more towards the serious expression and mannerisms.

“I’ll give you a day.”

Rachel thought about it, and, well, a day wasn’t much time at all, especially with all of the other shit Rachel had on her plate – Chloe, her dad, that stranger – ugh.

Maybe she could push for more.

She shook her head and mirrored Victoria’s serious mood.

“Two.”

Victoria scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“ _Fine_. Whatever.”

With that, they were kinda done, but didn’t really have any relationship to speak of – certainly not now, after Victoria blackmailed her – so there was only awkwardness as they realized the conversation was done, neither knew what to say, and Victoria slowly left the bathroom wordlessly.

When all was said and done, Rachel groaned and uncrossed her arms, turning around to slump on the sink.

Fuck.

Victoria might not go through with this, but … she _might_.

And that was a pretty worrying thought.

What _else_ was going to go wrong in Rachel’s life?

The Tempest was a big deal, but her father’s secret was an even _bigger_ deal – especially what Rachel found out yesterday, which at least Victoria didn’t know _that_ little detail …

Rachel sighed and pulled out her phone.

Chloe might have some ideas about what to do with Victoria – or, at least, she’d be a good listener.

Automatically Rachel started texting Chloe but stopped herself just slightly shy of sending it.

It was another one of those split-second things where she wondered if she was really going to rope Chloe into this or not, but, just like earlier, the moment went by quickly and Rachel was resolved.

Chloe was trusted with everything, now.

The ‘girlfriend’ word floated somewhere around in her mind again.

_hey. i really need you in the girl’s bathroom by drama rn_

After sending it, she knew Chloe wouldn’t need any more convincing, and with a frustrated sound shoved herself up into a standing position.

Rachel’s mind was spiraling a little now with the thought of what else might go wrong, and a few slight sniffled tears only confirmed that, but despite that, she was smiling – since she knew Chloe would be here soon and make her feel better about all of this shit.

As much as she could, anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe gives advice to Rachel.
> 
> Steph gives advice to Chloe.
> 
> Dana gives advice to Rachel.
> 
> Something's gotta give.

Chloe found Rachel in the bathroom she indicated.

She only spent a second or two before hearing the horrid shuddering way Rachel was breathing and knew she was probably feeling too much again – especially the way her posture was, all hunched over and hugging at herself again, like a weight was on her back, physically crippling her.

Chloe didn’t need to think about it before she came behind Rachel, who didn’t acknowledge her presence yet, but they didn’t need words for that anymore.

Instead, Chloe’s arms came around Rachel, about her belly, and just as automatically, Chloe could feel that weight slowly be lifted off of Rachel’s back as she melted more in the embrace and sighed forcefully but in a way that registered as content to Chloe.

Chloe loved the way Rachel’s body would be all tense and slowly loosen up under Chloe’s affection – like her very body trusted her as much as Rachel’s mind did.

Chloe just closed her eyes and let Rachel enjoy her warmth and comfort a bit and allow her to steady her breathing and regain her composure, and she eventually did, hands coming down to stroke affectionately but indiscriminately at Chloe’s arms and hands.

Not that Chloe could see it, but Rachel was smiling gently again.

“Thanks for coming.”

Chloe didn’t even open her eyes, just making a gentle hum.

“Of course, Rach … what’s up?”

Rachel hesitated for a bit.

“Stupid shit with Victoria. She’s trying to blackmail me.”

It took a second or two for that to really register to Chloe.

“She _what_.”

Her voice came out sharper than intended, too, but – _what_.

Rachel just nodded and sighed again.

“She overheard us talking about my dad. Wants me to drop my role in the Tempest or she’ll spill.”

Chloe frowned and instinctively her grip tightened, but that just got her more of Rachel, which just as instinctively relaxed her.

Still.

“That _bitch_.”

They both scoffed a little, though Chloe continued,

“Want me to deck her?”

Rachel’s scoff turned into an endeared laugh and she relaxed even more in Chloe’s grasp, though thankfully not to the extent she had yesterday when she simply stopped supporting her weight.

The thought was just such a nice one.

Chloe punching Victoria out so she’d learn her lesson about blackmailing people like this.

It’s not like she didn’t deserve it.

“Maybe later.”

Her tone came out so dreamy and endeared, but the thought was simply not practical.

Victoria would surely spill then, and Chloe would get in trouble too.

No, no, no …

“Thanks for the offer, though.”

She sighed a bit too wearily.

“No, I need to figure out what to do. She at least gave me some time to decide.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

“You’ve been practicing for this role for months.”

Rachel grunted.

“Don’t I know it. It’s my first lead role here.”

Chloe sighed wearily herself.

“But … shit with your dad getting out …”

Rachel half-whine half-scoffed in annoyance.

“… yeah, exactly.”

They remained still for a few moments, then Rachel gently pulled Chloe’s arms away enough so that she could turn around and slot herself into her face-to-face.

She looked up to Chloe, and Chloe’s heartstrings were tugged at seeing some of the dried tears on Rachel’s face and the way her eyes were irritated.

Maybe that’s why Rachel didn’t acknowledge her sooner, so she wouldn’t be seen like this.

Rachel bit her lip for a second or two.

“What do you think I should do?”

Chloe blinked down and gaped her mouth slightly.

Rachel looked down after this, to some part of Chloe’s chest, seemingly getting lost in thought.

It was pretty obviously different from earlier in their relationship, where Rachel rarely let Chloe see her vulnerable or unsure like this – but somehow, the idea of Rachel asking her what to do about this didn’t even register as a weird or unusual thing to Chloe; it made sense that Rachel would want a helping hand from time to time, and it seemed like Chloe in particular could help her particularly well.

That was a nice thought.

Chloe briefly tightened her grip on Rachel and Rachel produced the correct content sound, exhaling firmly at some part of Chloe’s neck or chest, then Chloe slowly brought one of her hands up to gently grab Rachel’s chin and guide her back up to looking at her.

She didn’t quite know when touching Rachel became so thoughtless and of-course, but neither of them seemed to mind it.

Rachel smiled gently as she looked back up to Chloe, and Chloe eventually brought the hand back down and smiled too.

“I … shit.”

Chloe looked away and their smiles went away.

What she was about to say … Rachel probably wouldn’t like.

It was totally unfair bullshit that Rachel had to make a decision like this, but there would be other plays in the future, other chances for Rachel to prove herself, and Chloe knew she would when the time came, even if she was effectively throwing out a perfectly good opportunity right now that she’d spent months working on.

But if anything about her dad got out, well … that probably would be much more awful and permanent; Rachel could barely even talk about him without getting pissed, and Chloe couldn’t imagine what it’d be like for her if suddenly everyone on campus was _super_ interested in gossiping about that, and particularly about the bad shit related to him.

So there really wasn’t a choice in Chloe’s mind.

Chloe looked back with a small frown.

“Neither option is good. But I think you should drop your role and let me wail on Vic later as revenge. You don’t want shit about your dad getting out. It’d really suck.”

Rachel sighed forcefully at this and looked back down again, seeming to deflate a little at the response.

Chloe bit her lip.

Shit.

Rachel took a few seconds to articulate anything while Chloe wondered if she should walk it back or hedge it a little.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

With a slight frown she looked up to Chloe, and Chloe opened her mouth, but –

Rachel just shook her head a little to shush Chloe.

“But yeah. You’re … probably right.”

Rachel smiled.

“I was kinda thinking the same thing.”

Chloe smiled, too.

Chloe thought that was going to go in a totally different direction, but the pleasant surprise they actually agreed on this was even better.

Still, after a few seconds, Rachel’s smile slowly went away and she turned around again so they were front-to-back.

Chloe’s grip instinctively tightened, and Rachel melted again.

Eventually, Rachel groaned.

“Ugh. This sucks. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Chloe considered being super compassionate and gentle, but … she smirked a bit instead, and gave Rachel a good squeeze.

“Fuck her. I just scored some weed from Justin. Hang out with me after school and we can chill and forget about this shit?”

Rachel sighed so dreamily again, purposefully pushing herself back more into Chloe’s front and closing her eyes.

She clearly thought about it for a few blissful seconds.

“I’d love to. But … not today.”

She smiled, though.

“Thanks anyway, though.”

Rachel found herself thanking Chloe a lot, lately.

It probably meant something.

 

\---

 

It was much later in the day when Chloe knocked on Steph’s door.

Many moons ago Steph offered her her ear if she ever needed it on stuff, which Chloe mostly didn’t feel the need to take her up on.

But now, with Rachel, and how fast their relationship had grown …

Chloe didn’t know anymore, and she figured Steph might.

Not as though Justin’s near-constant refrain of ‘girlfriend’ didn’t give her a good idea, though.

Soon enough Steph opened the door and smiled pleasantly at Chloe.

“Hello there.”

Chloe coughed a little and lowered her voice down.

“General Kenobi.”

Steph blinked.

One, two, three seconds passed, before she laughed and smiled more warmly, crossing her arms.

“Of all the people to be a nerd to me.”

Chloe frowned a little resentfully at the label and crossed her arms as well, but Steph just laughed again and gestured into her room.

“Oh, fuff. Don’t you give me that face. Being a nerd isn’t a bad thing. Now come in.”

Chloe eyed her a bit.

“Bossy bossy.”

Still, if there was any place Chloe _could_ be described as a nerd, sci-fi movies were definitely the area.

Either way, Chloe evened out her expression and walked into Steph’s room.

Thankfully, Mikey wasn’t here, so she could have this rather private conversation mostly in peace.

Steph closed her door and walked past Chloe to pull her computer chair nearer her couch before she sat down on the chair and patted at the couch, seeing Chloe just stand in the middle of the room a little awkwardly.

“Sit, sit.”

Chloe rolled her eyes a little, usually preferring to stay near the exits of rooms, but … whatever. It’s Steph.

She’s alright.

Chloe slowly uncrossed her arms and walked over to the couch where Steph had indicated before flopping down a bit too forcefully – causing the couch to groan a little – and looking over to her.

“So.”

Chloe clapped her hands together and leaned forward a bit on the couch.

Steph nodded.

“So. What’s up?”

Chloe looked from Steph to her floor.

“I … might be thinking of a certain someone a lot.”

Her tone was pretty bouncy here, probably too playful for the nature of this conversation.

Still, Steph took it the right way, scoffing in amusement and shaking her head slightly.

“A certain someone, huh.”

Chloe nodded.

“Yeah. She has like, a face. And stuff.”

Steph raised an eyebrow.

“Oh wow, a face. That’s so wild. I bet has she ears too.”

Her tone was dripping with the same playfulness.

Chloe nodded, again.

“Yeah, exactly. And some eyes and shit for good measure.”

Steph just exhaled, amused.

“Amazing. What have you been thinking about regarding this person?”

Chloe looked back to Steph and hesitated.

It wasn’t easy coming out, but, eventually, she just sighed and forced it.

“That I … y’know, like her a lot.”

Steph blinked, then griiiiiiiiiined.

“Oooooooooh. _This_ kind of conversation. I got you.”

Chloe scoffed and found herself blushing and frowning a little at Steph’s tone, like –

“- What do you mean _this_ kind of conversation?”

Steph raised her hands up by her chest in mild surrender and shrugged.

“Chill, chill.”

She lowered her hands.

“It’s not a bad thing. I’m sure I can help.”

Chloe sighed more wearily and looked back to Steph’s floor, hesitating some more.

“I … think she likes me a lot, too. But I don’t – what’s – _ugh_.”

Chloe vented her frustration with an annoyed grunt and shoved herself upright and more into the couch.

She looked back to Steph.

“I don’t know where we go from here.”

Steph nodded slowly and hummed thoughtfully.

“That can be tricky sometimes. I’m guessing you haven’t had ‘the talk’.”

Chloe shook her head.

Steph repeated her sounds and motions.

“Well. Does she _know_ that you like her like that?”

Chloe hesitated and groaned.

“No.”

Steph kind of shrugged.

“That’s an easy next step then.”

Chloe frowned and looked away with a scoff.

Easy next step.

If Rachel knew Chloe was into her like _that_ and Rachel wasn’t, that would clearly and obviously be a bad thing, right?

Like – it might alienate her, or something.

Chloe shook her head.

“No, I can’t just – what if she’s – y’know – what if – _ugh_.”

Steph raised an eyebrow.

“Take your time.”

Chloe slowly looked back to her.

She did indeed take her time to compose her thoughts into something coherent.

“What if she doesn’t feel the same way? And I just … weird her out?”

Steph shrugged a little.

“Then she doesn’t feel the same way and you just weird her out.”

Chloe frowned.

Steph giggled.

“Relax, relax.”

She leaned back in her seat more,

“It’s kind of a necessary evil, sometimes. The alternative is much worse.”

Chloe blinked.

“The alternative?”

Steph nodded,

“You get more and more and more attached and she just … doesn’t, then one day …”

Steph sighed wearily,

“You’re practically in love, and she just sees you as a friend, and dealing with that difference is suck to the extreme.”

Chloe blinked.

Is that the trajectory she was on?

… if Rachel kept being this affectionate, maybe …

She groaned and looked back down again.

“ _Ugh_. Rock and hard place.”

Steph giggled.

“Maybe. But maybe you’re overthinking this.”

Chloe blinked and looked back to her.

“Huh?”

Steph smiled.

“Earlier you said you think she felt the same way. Why’s that?”

Chloe thought about it for a few obvious seconds, the little cogs in her brain whirring at speed in a way that read as endearing to Steph, before Chloe looked back to the floor with a deep, heavy sigh, soon leaning back towards the couch until she was resting her back on it, too.

“She’s … really affectionate.”

Steph just hummed thoughtfully.

“Most girls are.”

Chloe grunted flatly and crossed her arms.

“Do most girls lay in bed with each other and sort of snuggle up to each other?”

It came out more flat and serious than questioning, since Steph probably didn’t know just _how_ affectionate Rachel actually was.

Steph raised an eyebrow.

“You have my attention. What kind of snuggling?”

Chloe closed her eyes and sighed dreamily, reliving earlier moments.

Eventually, she opened her eyes.

“I wake up next to her and my arms are just around her. I tug her closer when we both wake up and we exchange a joke about wanting to do this more often.”

Steph blinked only about a couple hundred times.

She slowly started to griiiiiin though.

“Damn. That’s gay.”

Chloe slowly uncrossed her arms and looked back to Steph.

“Yeah … so.”

Steph took a few moments to recompose herself.

“Well … I guess that explains her showing up to school with your shirt, then.”

Chloe blinked.

“Oh, someone noticed that?”

She looked away and rubbed at the back of her neck.

That might … cause problems in gossip.

Steph giggled.

“Yes, of course, she’s the most popular girl on campus.”

Chloe frowned a little, but Steph just giggled again.

Steph continued,

“I don’t think you have to worry about this, anyway.”

Chloe looked back.

“You don’t?”

Steph shook her head.

“Nah. I always got the feeling she played on our team. The real question is whether or not she wants something like that with _you_.”

Chloe thought about it for a few seconds.

Who else would Rachel want a relationship with, if not her?

If not the person Rachel said she was destined to learn to trust?

If not the person Rachel confided everything in?

If not the person Rachel wanted to increasingly sleep next to and snuggle more affectionately with?

“She does.”

It came out more confidently than Chloe was expecting, particularly with the tenor of the conversation earlier.

Enough confidence at least to slightly unbalance Steph and make her blink a few times, since it was very much unlike how Chloe acted all times prior in relationship stuff, including in this conversation _right here_.

“What? _Now_ you’re confident that she likes you?”

Chloe shook her head and leaned forward again, clasping her hands together near her knees,

“I just – I don’t know. You made me think about it in a different way. If it’s only a question about whether or not she wants _me_ , specifically, well … I think I know the answer to that.”

Steph went quiet for a few seconds and smiled.

The change in Chloe was pretty interesting, but Steph had to acknowledge it was probably motivated if Chloe and Rachel were just like casually sleeping in the same bed now, snuggling, or something.

Maybe she just needed a little ass-kicking to see the obvious truth in front of her.

Steph could certainly relate to that.

“Well, glad to help you come to this earth-shattering realization, then.”

Chloe smiled, too.

Steph then sighed contently.

“And if she does, then, maybe … this is all just a formality. And when the time is right, you’ll know when to tell her how you feel.”

Chloe thought about it and hummed.

“How will I know?”

Steph just shrugged.

“You will. Hard to say.”

Chloe groaned at the unhelpfulness of the answer, but Steph just giggled.

“Might help if you invite her onto a date or something. Something nice and romantic.”

Chloe looked to Steph then away again.

A date.

“A date …”

Chloe earlier had the thought of Rachel dragging her onto a date, and by now, Chloe learned that thoughts like that meant something.

It was weird, though, that Chloe never saw herself asking Rachel out, only the other way around – and less of asking, more of just … blissfully taking her onto one, almost assuming she’d be okay with it.

Because Chloe _would_ be okay with it.

Still, this all was what Chloe needed to hear, and with another dreamy sigh, she slowly stood up.

“… anyway, thanks. I think I know what to do now.”

Steph nodded.

“Anytime. I’m guessing Rachel isn’t single anymore.”

Chloe just crossed her arms.

“I don’t know, but …”

She closed her eyes and sighed again, gently smiling while she thought of prior times with Rachel,

“… I don’t think so, either.”

 

Steph smiled.

 

“Go gettem, tiger.”

 

Chloe nodded and looked back to Steph with a little smirk before waving goodbye and leaving her room.

Earlier, Chloe’s useless was an endearing kind of cute thing, but now – this assuredness, was pretty attractive.

How unfortunate then that both Chloe _and_ Rachel were taken.

But whatever.

They weren’t the only fish in the sea.

And they made a cute couple, anyway.

 

\---

Later in the day, Rachel found Dana after her post-school practice routines and they settled themselves on the bleachers, just looking out to the now running-long practice of some other jocks on the field below.

Since it was later, the sun was starting to set, and the weather starting to cool off, and it was overall just a lazy-feeling sort of afternoon, especially since Dana just practiced a lot and was physically a little exhausted.

That also explained their positions – with Dana laying on her back on the cold bleachers, reading some book for her homework, and Rachel sitting but otherwise doing much the same.

A lot of the times, Rachel didn’t need active, constant communication with her friends when they hung out – simply being around them, enjoying their company, was enough, and she hadn’t been doing enough of _this_ lately.

Mostly … because of Chloe.

Her dad, too, surely, but also … just Chloe.

It was hard to forget about her, sometimes, and while Rachel was ostensibly spending time with Dana here to do her homework, a lot of her attention started to flitter away thoughtlessly towards thoughts of Chloe – what they were, what they would be in a week or two, what all Chloe meant to her.

The realization that she was just uselessly dreaming about Chloe didn’t kick in until it had been twenty or so minutes past the time she ‘started’, and yet made no progress.

Ugh.

Rachel groaned and shook her head slightly.

Dana looked up from her book and sort of sat up slightly to look at Rachel.

“What’s up?”

Rachel looked over to Dana and the first thought was to deflect, since her growing attachment to Chloe was a pretty personal thing, and Dana wasn’t the best of friends.

But … why?

This was kinda driving Rachel nuts and it’s not like Chloe could be her only good friend.

Chloe was just unique in how much was trusted to her.

Still, just out and about coming out with the fact she was fantasizing about Chloe now was an unattractive thought, and she wondered how else to guide this conversation particularly in a way that would still help her without tipping her hand too much.

“I … hm.”

She crossed her arms and looked at Dana thoughtfully.

“You’ve had a boyfriend or two by now, haven’t you?”

Dana raised an eyebrow.

“Are we suddenly talking boys now, Rachel?”

Rachel laughed and shook her head, slightly.

“I mean, if you want to. But – no, I just …”

Rachel looked off to the field again, and Dana dumbly followed her gaze for a few seconds before realizing it was an idle kind of thing and not motivated.

They both soon looked back to each other, and Rachel continued with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“… when did you know you had a boyfriend? Instead of just a good friend?”

Dana blinked.

“Are you keeping a boyfriend from me, Rach? Oh my god.”

She was suddenly quite interested in this conversation and sat up to inch closer to Rachel and lean inwards with an obviously wide grin.

That wasn’t exactly the reaction Rachel was looking for and worried her it might be something Dana would gossip about later, so as she got closer, Rachel had to think fast to avoid Dana thinking she was really onto something.

She smirked.

“Oh yeah. You should see my texts. Boys for days.”

Her eyes then rolled with a scoff and she looked more seriously at Dana – at least, initially.

“Come on.”

Then she started to smirk-smile again.

This seemed to be the right response, with Dana’s obvious and leaning-forward interest being replaced with something more muted as she hummed thoughtfully and turned away from Rachel out to the field again.

“Yeah, of course. What is it, then?”

Rachel just shrugged a little, looking out to the field herself.

“I just – I have a lot of friends, you know, and you do too, but … I never had anyone so close I would call them a serious boyfriend.”

Every word in here was particularly chosen to avoid being a lie but not the whole truth either.

Serious boyfriends? No.

Serious girlfriends? … maybe.

Dana realized Rachel was leveling with her but couldn’t help a slight scoff, even if she was smiling.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact you don’t _let_ anyone closer.”

Rachel appropriately heard the playfulness here and scoffed herself, shaking her head slightly.

That _was_ kind of the truth, but only partially so.

Rachel was letting more people in, these days – Chloe, and now Dana, to some extent.

Either way, this is not where she wanted the conversation to go.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Kindly answer the question, please. When do you know you got a boyfriend?”

Rachel felt like she diffused the idea of Dana thinking she had a secret lover pretty well, and that seemed to be confirmed by the fact that Dana just thought about it for a few seconds, crossing her arms and face heavy with obvious contemplation,

“… I guess it’s kinda hard to tell when exactly someone becomes a boyfriend.”

Rachel just groaned, painfully.

“It’s just unclear and confusing? Are you serious?”

Dana sort of shrugged but smiled, looking back to Rachel.

“Well, at least with boys … they’ll be pretty quick to tell you when they think you’re their girlfriend.”

Rachel smiled too in response, but more out of instinct than any thought, and what Dana said gave her something to think about.

Could she even reasonably extract information out of Dana about this if she was straight and Rachel – wasn’t?

If Chloe thought of her as a girlfriend she certainly hadn’t made it known.

Maybe she could do with trying to find out about something more pragmatic that probably translated regardless of orientation.

“What about kissing? When did you know to have your first kiss?”

Dana sort of scoffed but still smiled.

“Am I telling you everything I know about relationships now?”

Rachel just smiled and nodded.

“Pretty much. Chop chop.”

Dana giggled and kind of shrugged, looking back to the field.

“I dunno. Boys will usually go for it after a date or two. I don’t think I ever made the move for the first kiss.”

Unhelpful, again, and it made Rachel doubt once more how helpful Dana could be here – but at the same time, on second thought –

After a date or two.

That … more-or-less confirmed Rachel’s urge to not want to do it until the time was right, when the mood was more serious and romantic and – she realized that basically meant on a date.

A date with Chloe.

A romantic date.

Where they would kiss.

“Interesting.”

What Dana said wasn’t, really, but Rachel was being friendly, and that’s how Dana took it, too.

Sooner or later Dana laid back down, sensing the conversation was over with, and resumed her homework.

Rachel kinda wished she could herself, but instead, she just thought about _dating_ Chloe now, and _kissing_ her afterwards.

 

Fuck she was so screwed.

 

At least she had time to plan on a perfect date …

For now, Rachel did her best to put Chloe out of her mind, just so she could keep up on her homework.

 

\---

 

As the day drew to a close, Rachel went home for the first time since she found out about her dad’s infidelity, and it was weird how that changed so clearly how home felt like.

Just walking into her house she had to see all of the family pictures, all with her dad beaming so proudly and confidently, and she had to know how much each of them were on some level a lie.

Still.

Rachel had made Chloe a promise of sorts and she intended to keep it – she wasn’t going to do force anything with her dad until they had a plan they both agreed upon.

And she was going to try her damn best to keep it that way.

So it was a pleasant-enough if very faked first few minutes as her mother and father greeted her from coming home.

Rachel had an excuse at the ready for being absent from home yesterday – something to do with drama class and wanting to really focus on studying a scene with a classmate, and her family had no reason to distrust her, so that was the end of that.

They were never all _that_ strict about where she spent her time, anyway.

After the pleasantries, Rachel went upstairs and did her homework until dinner time, and she more-or-less thought like she could keep things under control.

She was, after all, an actress, and she thought herself a good one.

At least for a little while.

At least while she thought through what to do.

But as the family dinner started to tick by, Rachel started to realize she was staring more and more at her dad, thinking more and more about how fake he was being, pretending like nothing was wrong, and they were all still a strong family, not with the family patriarch a fucking cheater.

At one or two mostly benign questions about school and the play that was coming up that were fielded by her father Rachel felt like she was going to snap – but.

She always forced herself to remember her promise with Chloe.

She always forced herself to remember how desolate and sad Chloe looked when she talked about her dad.

 

Rachel made it through the dinner, but only just.

 

She realized this wasn’t really sustainable – especially if she dropped her part in the Tempest, since that’d probably be something her parents would be especially interested in – especially especially her father.

Ugh.

What else could Rachel do, though … ?

She couldn’t just avoid going home from now on, could she? Even if every part of this place just reminded her of her dad.

Her mind then turned, as it now often did, to Chloe.

She could probably make up some dumb excuse for staying more nights over there.

Chloe probably wouldn’t deny her that.

That … might keep everything together.

For at least a little while.

And she could scheme with Chloe there, too, without having to worry about her dad overhearing part of her conversation or something.

With a smile, Rachel pulled out her phone and started texting Chloe again.

 

\---

 

As dinner ended and most of his family moved to go to bed, James walked out into his garden.

A glass of wine or two didn’t motivate the trip but certainly helped it.

After walking through his carefully-maintained garden, James sat himself down on the bench on the fire side of the maze.

Deep, heavy sigh.

He leaned forward and clasped his hands together, and just thought about things.

He didn’t want a particularly difficult thing.

But even after giving her some risky personal time to try and convince her the err of her ways, she wasn’t going to relent.

He didn’t want to escalate things, but … what choice did he have?

If she saw Rachel, then everything was over.

No.

He pulled out his phone, then put it to the side, pulling out another, burner phone, just for this occasion.

He dialed up a certain number.

“I have a job for you.”

Nothing about this felt right.

But he was running out of options, and time, to keep Rachel safe from her influence.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe has a nightmare.
> 
> Chloe has doubts, but she has weed. 
> 
> Rachel schemes.
> 
> Frank gets pissed.
> 
> Rachel her doubts too, but she has weed _and_ Chloe.
> 
> Things are alright, for just this brief moment in time.

It didn’t surprise Chloe to learn that Rachel had difficulties having dinner with her family and talking to her dad, but she was happy Rachel managed to keep it all in – for one day, at least.

Still, it was clear it wasn’t sustainable.

Chloe … didn’t really have a plan for that, and neither did Rachel, but here was the first day of their coping – ambling off to the junkyard clubhouse after school.

Chloe’s room would be more comfortable, but David would be there, and neither wanted much to talk to him right here right now – particularly when the intent of today was to get high as fuck and just zone out, something Chloe anticipated he’d have quite a problem with.

So they skateboarded as far as they could towards the junkyard together and walked side-by-side the remaining way.

By now, their affections were automatic and nearly thoughtless – Rachel’s head would sometimes rest on Chloe’s shoulder as they walked, sometimes their hands played with each other, sometimes they were simply just close with each stride, but it always just came out without any hesitation or thought.

They had both kinda accepted they were in a relationship now, and just needed the right moment to cement it – something they were both looking for and forwards to.

On the way, Chloe spotted the fire and smoke off in the distance from Rachel’s relentless anger and emotions, and although she pointed it out, Rachel wasn’t much interested in talking about it, perhaps unsurprisingly.

Chloe kinda bit her lip and had to wonder just what all the fire was doing and how bad it was getting.

But eventually, they made it to the club house, fire or no, and eventually, they made it onto the couch, still together.

Despite them both searching for that special moment to advance them officially, that moment wasn’t now, no.

Now was for relaxing.

Now was for laying together on the couch.

Now was for snuggling openly and with intent, knowing it was not something just friends did.

Now was for going through Chloe’s supply of weed, and consequentially getting even more affectionate and chill.

Sooner or later, they fell asleep, as they were now wont to do, still in contact, Chloe’s arm around Rachel, Rachel resting on Chloe’s body, somewhat intertwined.

And Chloe, she thought, was making a difference in helping Rachel deal with her family shit.

Even if this wasn’t sustainable, it was better than nothing.

It was a pretty nice way to fall asleep.

 

\---

 

When Chloe opened her eyes again, she was in familiar surroundings, albeit in an unfamiliar state.

She was standing in front of the tree with the plaque, where Rachel started the fire, only …

Everything was burned to the ground, almost.

Chloe looked around and for miles and miles all she saw was just death and destruction – charred trees, burned-off grass, desolate ground, thick and oppressive gray skies with a hazey smokey thick fog over everything.

She breathed in, and she could smell the horrid smell of burned woods.

Fuck.

Chloe just stared at things for a few moments as she processed her surroundings.

What was this?

A vision?

A dream?

A premonition?

Eventually Chloe took some steps away from the tree, but every step she took resulted in a horrid sound of burned grass compressing awfully under her feet, crinkling, falling apart, and raw, like death itself.

That was pretty discouraging, but she was clearly meant to do … something.

The path away from the tree was not like how it existed in reality – instead of winding and vertical, going along a hill, it was a dead shot straight to another large tree, flanked on either side by a seemingly endless array of burned trees all around her.

Chloe pushed forward, shoving her hands in her pockets and just feeling miserable as she walked.

This … was her fault – at least, in part.

If she didn’t hesitate earlier, she could have put out that fire as Rachel dropped the picture.

She could have stopped this.

All this death and misery and destruction.

Is this the kind of person she was, now?

 

Eventually, Chloe made it to the other tree, and just stared up its massive charred husk of a body.

This tree was so tall and sheer that it extended past Chloe’s sight into the fog, piercing it, yet also being obstructed from view by it.

After a few seconds Chloe looked down with a frown and gasped.

She saw some bones …

She got down on her knees after a second or two of processing and reached out to the bones but –

She heard someone stepping around from behind the tree and stood up.

“Who’s there?!”

Between everything, it felt like Chloe’s heart was going a million miles an hour, and this shout came with some unexpected gesticulations as it felt like most of her body went into it, leaning, fists clenching and all.

Slowly, someone walked out from behind the tree, but the tree was still so utterly massive that whoever it was was obstructed from view by the fog.

Chloe just started, unconsciously grinding her teeth, until she gasped again as the figure became uncloaked and walked closer.

 

“… dad?”

 

William smiled, in the way he always did, though his clothes were a little ashy.

He raised his hands up slightly, exposing his palms and gesticulating in that way that Chloe knowingly inherited whenever she talked.

“Heya, sport. Thought I’d check in again.”

Chloe already felt like everything was too much and she almost teared up at this, sniffling a little and crossing her arms, looking down to the floor.

She shuddered miserably.

“You have some … timing, dad.”

William laughed so warmly, taking a few steps closer.

“My nick name in high school was ‘just in time’. I suppose old habits die hard.”

Despite everything, Chloe’s lips slightly upturned in a smile, and she had the barest of amused exhales.

“Dad …”

Soon enough, William was standing over Chloe, and his hand came to her shoulder and she just –

She just immediately moved over to hug him tightly, viscerally, compressing him with every fiber of being and might in her muscle as though he were a nut she wanted to crack.

She didn’t even care if she was aware now this was some kind of dream and nothing about this was real because she was _feeling_ and she could _feel_ William’s warmth, she could feel how protective his arm felt, how reassuring his old smell was, how calm his breathing was, how gentle each exhale that collided against her scalp was.

William gave her her time to slowly recover and appreciate his comfort, patting at her back and making gentle consoling noises, but he did eventually take a step or two back to guide Chloe’s chin up to look at him again.

“Now, I’d like to stay and talk forever, but … y’know that’s not how things work now.”

They both frowned, but William’s turned into a smile soon enough.

“I want to talk to you about Rachel.”

The unreality of her dad knowing anything about Rachel only cemented in that this was some kind of dream or something.

Chloe sniffled again and shook her head slightly to be free of her father’s grasp, wiping some tears away with the back of her arm and looking down before back up at him.

“W-what? Um, what about Rachel?”

William’s features slowly became more serious and he crossed his arms, looking away from Chloe to the rest of the awfully-burned forest.

“I think you know what about, sweetie.”

Chloe frowned.

Despite her own internal doubts about it, she wasn’t going to let just anyone lecture her on this.

Not even her dad – ghost dad – dream dad, whatever.

“N-no, I -”

She shook her head a little and her fists tightened.

“- This is not my fault! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

William sighed in a very weary way, closing his eyes and slowly looking back to his daughter in that way he always did when Chloe disappointed him a little, and Chloe of course recognized the movements and sounds immediately, and they tore a little into her.

He opened his eyes.

“I think we both know you don’t really believe that. This fire wouldn’t have started if you didn’t go along with her.”

Damn it.

Chloe was trembling now, an awful mixture of anger and fear and guilt.

She knew he was right.

But she didn’t want to admit it.

Not even to her dad.

“No! I – Rachel started the fire! Not me.”

William nodded.

“That she did. And why were you both out there?”

Chloe hesitated.

That was piercing.

“To uh – y’know …”

She looked down and felt some of the anger bleeding out of her from that pierced wound.

“… to spy on her dad …”

William allowed her a few moments of quiet while her own words sunk in, then he continued.

“To skip school and spy on her dad. Correct.”

Chloe just felt herself crushing more and more under the guilt and judgement of her dad.

Eventually, she brought her hands up to hide her face, sort of shaking her head and rubbing at it to try and alleviate some of her sorrow.

William sighed wearily again and brought an arm dad to tug Chloe back into his front.

Chloe easily rehugged hum and hid her face in him, instead.

William started rubbing at her back.

“You’re still my daughter. And I still love you, and I always will, no matter what you do.”

Chloe smiled, barely.

William wasn’t done.

“But I want you to think long and hard before you do careless things like this.”

The smile went away.

He still wasn’t done.

“Before you let the wrong people into your life.”

Chloe sniffled,

“T-the … the wrong people?”

William’s arm suddenly wasn’t just warm, it was _hot_ and _intense_ and getting hotter by the second, and it felt as though Chloe’s clothes soon started to smoke from the intensity.

Chloe forced her gaze up to William’s eyes, though when she did she gasped horribly, as now the charred remains of the tree behind him wasn’t extinguished, nor were any of the others, and she was suddenly surrounded by an inferno in all directions for as far as the eye could see – and the fire was so intense, it blotted out the sky with its amber overwhelming presence and –

William was on fire, too.

There was fire in his eyes and on his body, though he didn’t relent when Chloe tried to pull away, and instead his grip got deathly tight.

 

His features were intense.

“The wrong people can get you burned.”

The fire started to consume Chloe.

She opened her mouth to scream, but fire only went inside, literally burning the very oxygen out of her lungs –

 

\---

 

Chloe woke up with a horrid shuttering gasp, but couldn’t just shoot straight up into a sitting position since –

Rachel.

Rachel was right on top of her, keeping her still, and Chloe just hyperventilated for a few seconds.

Jesus.

It’d been a while since another one of those had haunted her …

And it felt so real.

The fire felt so intense, so hot, like it boiled off her skin.

And those bones …

The fire didn’t kill anyone or – anything, did it?

Ugh.

This was awful.

Despite Rachel’s presence being comforting and welcome, Chloe found herself gently worming out from underneath her to sit up on the couch and kind of groan, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

She felt like such shit.

In the process of helping Rachel, that fire came about, and she surely had some blame for it.

Like Rachel said - she didn’t even know what she would have done without Chloe, but certainly not that. She even felt like she could burn the whole fucking forest down when Chloe was around.

And maybe, just maybe, she was.

Chloe found the pipe they had been sharing since if there was ever a time she wanted to bake and escape awful feelings, this was it, but with a frown, she realized it was dead and out of weed.

They really went to town on this thing …

She put it back down as Rachel murmured and started to wake up.

Despite everything, Chloe looked over to her, and inched closer to pat at her back affectionately as she woke up.

“Hey, hey, shhh … go back to sleep … I’ll join you in a bit.”

Chloe’s eyes caught the glimpse of white through one of the windows of the clubhouse and she saw - Frank’s RV.

Perfect.

That put a slight smile on her face.

“I’m just … going to go get some more weed. I’ll be right back.”

Rachel muttered a very dreamy and distant ‘okay, I’ll miss you’ and it put an even wider smile on Chloe’s face as she stood up and stretched a bit.

How much of this did she regret, really?

If she was responsible for the forest fire in part, but she got Rachel out of it?

Is that even fair to consider?

Rachel’s just one person.

Who even knows how many lives of how many creatures were in the forest …

Chloe sighed a little as she put her hands in her pockets and walked with a slouch and a slump, dragging her feet a little and staring at the ground in obvious thought as she walked out to Frank’s RV.

Rachel’s anger was so hard to control.

What else might it cause, down the line?

If burning down an entire forest isn’t some kind of line, what was?

How far could Chloe go with Rachel before she felt like it was too much, and she couldn’t live with herself anymore?

Did she already cross it …?

The thoughts kept sticking in her head like nasty thorns, enveloping it and refusing to let it go, always stinging a little the more it struggled and squirmed.

A couple feet from the RV, Chloe suddenly looked up when the RV’s door opened and someone walked out.

Chloe didn’t … immediately recognize her.

It was a woman, middle-aged, with long flowing hair and she – she immediately hid her face in her hands, preventing Chloe from looking at it, as the woman teared up and started walking in the opposite direction, away from her, at a brisk powerwalking pace.

Chloe thought maybe to call out to her, but - it wasn’t her business, and she looked like she needed some alone time, anyway.

Chloe could sympathize with that.

She shook her head and walked to the RV’s door, though she hesitated on opening it.

That woman did look awfully familiar, even if Chloe only got a brief look at her face.

She almost kinda looked like Rachel –

Chloe gasped and her eyes widened when she realized that was the same woman she saw cheating on Rachel’s dad.

She quickly started to run in the direction she last saw the woman but looking around, Chloe didn’t see her anywhere, and she didn’t leave any obvious trail in the ground for her to follow.

Damn it.

That might have been her only chance to talk to her.

Though …

Chloe looked back to the RV and started to walk towards it again.

Frank would obviously know something about her if she just came out of his RV so distraught like that.

She knocked on the door and it didn’t take long for Frank to open it.

He looked pretty serious – he didn’t even smile when he saw her, like he used to.

“What do you want?”

And his voice was so cold …

Chloe kinda regretted coming over here now.

But she still wanted weed to get this stupid tension headache away and also to ask about that woman.

She frowned.

“Got any weed?”

Frank crossed his arms and considered for a second or two – if he did have stash still, he didn’t have any reason to turn Chloe down, since Chloe managed to repay her debt.

“You still haven’t gotten Drew’s money.”

Which – she did, only it went right back to Drew, minus the money Chloe needed to pay back her debt, as a favor from Drew.

She kept her frown.

“He didn’t have it, dude, like I said. Your ‘buddy’ even checked after me. Nada.”

Frank scoffed and rolled his eyes a little.

“Whatever. Come in.”

Chloe got into the RV – noticing the bedroom door closed as soon as she did - and it was quick and transactional to get more weed.

Chloe didn’t have much money on her, but she was more than happy to spend her allowance on alcohol and weed, since, what else was she going to do with it?

When they were done, and Frank obviously expected her to leave, though, Chloe just put the baggy into a pocket and crossed her arms.

Frank raised an eyebrow, but he was still so cold.

Chloe hesitated and almost didn’t bother, but …

Fuck it.

“Do you know that woman who came in before me?”

Frank scoffed, clearly amused, and crossed his own arms.

“Sure I do. I know everybody.”

Chloe opened her mouth, but Frank uncrossed his arms and shoved Chloe back a bit – which made her blink in half-surprise and half-fear.

“But you should know you don’t talk to dealers about their clients. _Capiche_?”

Frank … just intimidated her, again.

Fuck.

What was wrong with him?

Was it really Damon turning him into such an asshole?

Still, Chloe didn’t feel like she could make much headway with how strong a front he was putting up here, and so she just shook her head, slowly working through the shock of him shoving her like that.

“You used to be more than a dealer to me, Frank. Whatever.”

Frank blinked a little.

“Chloe …”

It was too late, though, and Chloe just turned around and promptly left the RV.

Maybe it was stupid to even think Frank had ever been her friend.

He was just a drug dealer, after all.

With a defeated sigh, Chloe made her way back to the clubhouse, noticing Frank didn’t care enough to leave the RV and force another conversation with her, after she implied pretty strongly they weren’t friends anymore.

Fuck.

At least she still had Justin and Trevor and –

Rachel.

Despite everything, it did put a slight smile on her face as she entered the clubhouse and saw Rachel gently dozing, this time on her back, with her hands folded together on her belly.

Chloe put the baggie of weed on the table and considered packing and starting the pipe again, but …

She smiled a bit wider and moved over to the couch, instead, leaning over to gently wipe some hair away from Rachel’s forehead.

“Hey hey … sleeping beauty.”

Rachel woke up with a smile to see Chloe smiling so warmly.

“No fair … I wanted to use that line.”

They both giggled.

There were certainly better ways to wake up, but as Chloe diligently sat down, prepared the pot pipe again, took a hit, and offered her a hit herself, it was hard to think of any.

After her exhale Rachel sat herself up only to get close to Chloe and melt into her side again, though she could feel some tenseness in Chloe.

Chloe didn’t balance from her affection like she normally did – she remained stiff.

Rachel offered the pot pipe back and wondered why that might be.

Probably something David related?

No … she wasn’t like this earlier.

Well, Chloe did just go to get some weed, so it must have been somehow related to that.

Rachel closed her eyes.

“Something happen while you were getting more weed?”

Chloe scoffed a little in disbelief, but soon looked over to the melty Rachel and just smiled.

Her arm came around to tug Rachel into her side, and they both melted into each other and the back of the couch while they casually took hits from the pipe.

“Kinda … my dealer’s a huge dick now.”

Rachel just scoffed, amused.

Of course, Chloe was thinking of the other thing that happened, too, but she didn’t know if she should tell Rachel about it.

When she did, Rachel would … almost certainly get angry.

Or maybe angry isn’t the right word – _intense_.

She would have this sudden need to go march over there and deal with this problem right now, even though that’s not at all why they came out here.

They came out here to relax and snuggle and forget about all of this bullshit.

But …

There might not be another opportunity to get information about that woman, and Chloe felt weird and uncomfortable keeping anything from Rachel after how badly her father keeping something from her hurt her – apples to oranges, but still.

Rachel deserved the truth.

 

… after a few more hits to mellow her out, anyway …

 

Eventually, after those few hits were had and more snuggles were enjoyed, Chloe cleared her throat, and Rachel made an automatic curious humming sound.

“So uh. I might’ve … maybe … sort of … kind of … perhaps … saw that woman who cheated on your dad.”

Through the influence of weed Chloe could tell it took a few seconds for that to really register, but when it did, Rachel sat up straight and looked very seriously at Chloe.

“What?”

Her voice wasn’t – angry, but it was louder, and sharper, for sure, just not quite angry yet.

Chloe rubbed at the back of her neck and avoided Rachel’s gaze.

“Yeaaaaaah. She was coming out of Frank’s RV.”

Rachel frowned.

“Did you – talk to her? Or – _something_?”

Chloe slowly looked back to her and brought her hands down.

“Not – exactly. I didn’t really recognize her until she was too far away.”

Rachel frowned more deeply and looked down to the space between them.

“Damn it.”

Chloe noticed the lack of visceral anger and contributed it either to how warm and relaxed Rachel must have felt from all of that snuggling, the weed, or both – but either way, it was quietly relaxing to not see her just –

Rachel just stood up, all of the sudden, and Chloe almost sighed, because of course she did.

“We have to – go talk to Frank then, or … something.”

Chloe crossed her arms, and Rachel did too, as they turned to face each other, though Chloe remained on the couch.

“I already tried. He won’t budge.”

Rachel’s face was pretty serious, but she didn’t have an immediate response for that, instead just visibly thinking for a few long seconds.

“Well we … _hm_.”

Rachel shook her head a bit, then sat down next to Chloe again.

“Okay, okay – okay. Maybe – yeah – maybe _I_ can convince him.”

Chloe looked over at Rachel thoughtfully.

“With - what?”

Rachel just smiled, placing one of her hands on Chloe’s shoulders and rubbing it quite forcefully, though Chloe noticed her eyes actually went to the hand and it didn’t leave quickly as it usually did when Rachel gave her shoulder rubs,

“ _You_ , silly. Tell me eeeeeeeeeeeveeeeeerything you know. ‘specially the weird juicy stuff.”

Chloe scoffed at that, amused, and shook her head.

“Rachel, come on, this is Frank – everything about him is weird. He’s got like – a friggen years’ worth of beans for chrissake.”

They both had a small giggle at that, though Rachel didn’t actually know what she was talking about.

Still, she eventually removed her hand and just groaned a little.

“C’mon Chloe! There’s gotta be … _something_ – like.”

She frowned, but it was pouted, and clearly thought-induced,

“What about weird note-worthy shit he keeps in his – I dunno, his room?”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

“His room …”

Weird shit in Frank’s room?

Well, porn, obviously, and the dog, and –

Damon.

Chloe blinked.

“Well he’s – he’s got an _adorable_ puppy – widdle pompi – and um, some jugs mags, and --- ahhh.”

Rachel just blinked too.

Chloe kind of shrugged.

“Also a guy, I guess. His business partner – Damon - sleeps in there.”

There was more obvious thought between the two of them, and Rachel pouted her lips for a few seconds –

“Like … on an air mattress?”

Chloe giggled and shook her head,

“No no no – not um, there’s no space for that there – he’s – on Frank’s bed, probably. With the widdle puppy.”

Once again, it took a few seconds for this to really register to Rachel, in what Chloe could only describe as weed thought, but then she kind of gasped.

“Oooooooooooooooooh.”

Rachel blinked a few times.

“Oh. Oh oh oh. Like – like in a gay way.”

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure they’re just – cuddle buddies, or something. Like us.”

They both shared a giggle at that, but then Rachel evened out her expression.

“No, no no – this is – _oh_. This is good, Chloe.”

Chloe blinked.

“It is?”

Rachel just nodded, then crossed her arms, looking a little smug.

“Yeah, like – okay. If he’s sleeping with Damon, right? then he wouldn’t want us to blab about him cheating with that woman.”

Chloe blinked again.

“You want to blackmail him?”

Rachel nodded and then shook her head and groaned a bit.

“It’s more like – convincing. We’re not gonna actually do it, right? So it’s harmless.”

Chloe frowned and instinctually it felt a little wrong, especially since they didn’t even know it was true, but Rachel was standing up again.

“Ooooh. This is good. He’ll tell us everything we want to know – I just – I know it.”

Chloe sighed and found herself standing up and following after Rachel as she started to leave the club house.

Rachel seemed _so_ interested in this idea she forgot to ask Chloe if she thought it was any good which – no, Chloe didn’t think so, setting aside any weird feelings about it – Damon-influenced Frank would probably just shove her or something and tell her to get lost.

But whatever.

Chloe kinda didn’t care about things right now, which was the whole point of her getting high, so if Rachel wanted to try some dumb idea, whatever, Chloe was still behind her every step of the way.

As a bonus, Rachel didn’t even hit anything on the way out.

Weed-happy Rachel was much easier to deal with than Dad-angry Rachel, though decidedly at a monetary cost.

 

Rachel and Chloe stopped a few feet shy of the RV’s door, because Rachel turned to face Chloe suddenly.

“Okay – like.”

She breathed in deep and made her face all serious.

“We have to focus. No – like – random giggling or whatever. This is serious.”

Rachel kept the sober expression for a few seconds but Chloe started cracking up and soon started giggling, which earned her a playful shove, since it made Rachel giggle too, since Chloe’s giggles were infectious.

“No – stop – you – dummy!”

After enough time giggling Chloe calmed herself down as Rachel did and they both breathed in deep, trying to at once sober up though that was decidedly not an easy task.

They weren’t going to be nearly as convincing if they were obviously high, and they both knew that, so after the little psyche up Rachel turned around again and knocked on the RV’s door.

Chloe got beside her and crossed her arms.

Rachel did too.

The door took a bit longer to open than before, probably because Frank wasn’t anticipating anyone, but soon enough Frank was there, looking as coldly as he ever did, though there was a brief flash of surprise at Rachel’s addition by Chloe’s side.

“What do you kids want? You already got your weed.”

Not a great start, but they just had to –

“We know you’re cheating, Frank. We want to know more about that – woman.”

Both Chloe and Frank looked squarely at Rachel, both at first a little shocked at her forwardness, though Frank’s shock quickly wore off, and its place, there was only contempt.

He leaned forward a bit.

Chloe almost instinctually backed up, but Rachel sure didn’t.

Frank frowned.

“Excuse me?”

Rachel even took a step _forward_ like – _what_ –

Chloe instinctually followed right by her though she was not sure about this at all with the way Frank shoved her earlier.

Probably something she should have told Rachel, with the benefit of hindsight.

At the same time though, she wasn’t horribly concerned this was going to go sideways, probably due to the weed, so there wasn’t an appetite to try and rein Rachel in.

Rachel, apparently, felt the same way, and just doubled down.

“You’re cheating on your business partner with – like – uh – that woman.”

Rachel said this more loudly and projected it more forcefully into the RV, which made Frank wince a bit and look back into it to see if anything had stirred.

He looked back to her after a second or two with an even deeper frown.

“Jeez. You try’n to wake the dead or somethin’?”

Still, this was progressing the conversation in what seemed like right way, surprisingly to Chloe – Frank stepped out of his RV and closed the door behind him.

He didn’t look very pleased, though, and crossed his arms.

“I ain’t tellin’ you shit. Get lost and don’t come back.”

He then looked over to Chloe,

“That includes _you_ , if this blackmailing bitch is part of your posse now. No more weed.”

Every word in there was just so – cold, and uncaring, and so unlike Frank.

Or the Frank Chloe used to know, anyway … the one that maybe didn’t exist.

The realization came in waves that Frank just told her she was cut off so long as she was with Rachel – and the realization that Frank just insulted Rachel came in waves for them both –

After a few seconds too long, Rachel grunted in exasperation, making an annoyed gesture with her hands, but simply crossing her arms and looking away, maybe as if to let Chloe take over the conversation.

Or maybe just to close off and vent a little.

That was … an improvement, from trying to start a fight, or hit random things.

Chloe really ought to get weed in Rachel’s system more often.

Focus.

Chloe surprisingly didn’t feel too much anger in her about Frank insulting Rachel, possibly because of the weed, possibly because she already knew he wasn’t afraid to escalate, so she simply took a step forward, trying to keep that exact thing from happening,

“Frank, come on – “

Her tone was trying to be diplomatic, but –

Frank grunted and just shoved Chloe away –

Rachel snapped to looking at Frank and moved that much closer to shove his hand away in return, though Chloe had already been pushed back –

“Don’t _touch_ her!”

Frank’s frown turned grim.

His free hand reached behind him and he pulled out his pistol, a semi-automatic thing, which he cocked pointedly and pointed to the sky, resting somewhere near his head.

They both just froze.

“I’ll touch who I damn well want. Get lost.”

He lowered the gun, pointing it to the floor – though never once in its journey did the barrel point at either of them –

“And don’t come back.”

Rachel took a step or two back until she was side-by-side with Chloe again, mostly out of the fear of god from the gun.

Chloe was slightly less shocked and fearful of it since she already knew Frank just carried it around, though being threatened by it, even if not directly, never felt any better.

She frowned, too.

“Frank. What the _hell_ has gotten into you?”

It was kind of surprising how distraught Chloe’s voice sounded when it came out – very feeling, and emotional.

Chloe blamed it on the weed, since normally she didn’t inflect so much.

Frank just blinked,

“What –“

Chloe didn’t give him edgewise, though,

“- Look at you. Shoving kids around. Threatening them with guns. What are you going to do? Shoot us, Frank? - just because we want like – some info? The _fuck_.”

Chloe’s voice kept teetering on the edge of emotional yet not actually crying or anything.

Frank groaned a little,

“ _Chloe_ … come on. You come at me with this - blackmail crap what do you -”

Chloe just grunted and uselessly gesticulated with her hands,

“What do you want us to do, Frank? You wouldn’t even tell one of your ‘friends’ a _little_ bit about her.”

Frank kept his frown.

Chloe slowly brought her hands down and continued.

“And this is like – really important to us.”

Her voice was more stable by now, at least.

Frank scoffed.

Still, he was clearly thinking about what was said, and put the safety back on his gun to holster it in his waistline again, crossing his arms.

Rachel, in the meantime, just looked between Frank and Chloe as they spoke, mostly frowning from being insulted, but smiling a little whenever Chloe seemed to make some headway.

“Yeah? She’s just some waster. The hell is that important to you?”

Chloe shook her head.

“If you actually _listened_ to me earlier and talked to me like a _friend_ you’d know. She’s …”

Chloe briefly looked over to Rachel, almost as if asking for permission, before back to Frank,

“… connected to Rachel’s family, somehow. Some bullshit drama. It’s important we know everything we can to deal with it.”

Rachel wasn’t fully sure how comfortable she was with Chloe revealing what she did, but flatly and honestly leveling with Frank – like a friend – seemed to have the intended effect, with him looking down to the floor, groaning a bit, and scratching at the back of his neck before looking back up.

“Fine, whatever. You didn’t hear this from me.”

He looked around, almost conspiratorially, before taking a few steps closer and lowering his voice a bit.

“That’s Sera Gearhardt. Used to be a reliable … client, of Damon’s and mine, over down in Long Beach and LA. Used the heavy stuff too, not just weed …”

He frowned.

“Then she just – stopped, one day, and we were left holding the bag for her fuckin’ debt.”

He sighed wearily.

“I have no fuckin’ clue what she’d be doing mixing up with your friend’s family here.”

He uncrossed his arms.

“That’s all I know.”

Chloe frowned.

“You don’t know why she’s here?”

Frank shrugged.

“No. Ain’t exactly in a mood to talk nice with her, y’know. Bitch still owes us money and I had to talk Damon off of him giving her a piece of his mind.”

Chloe and Rachel exchanged looks.

Rachel was mostly processing the reveal poorly but kept her shock that Sera was a drug user – of hard drugs apparently – off of her face, and the fact Sera was from Long Beach – where Rachel grew up …

She had to wonder if maybe Dad did drugs way back when, possibly with her, and that’s why he was being so secretive about the whole thing.

It honestly wouldn’t even fucking surprise her anymore.

Chloe more-or-less thought along similar contours, though with less suspicion about Rachel’s dad, and with a sigh, slowly looked back to Frank.

“So you have no clue where she went or how we can talk to her.”

He shrugged again.

“Nah. I’m washing my hands clean of this shit. If you somehow think you can talk to Damon about this, go for it, but …”

He frowned, looking mostly at Chloe,

“He won’t care about this pussy shit about being friends. He’s strong like that. So you probably won’t get nowhere except pissing him off.”

Chloe and Rachel looked to each other again, and Chloe knew Rachel’s instinct was _of course_ to go try and do that anyway, but she hoped her slightly pleading look as they exchanged glances communicated Chloe’s total lack of desire to push Damon.

As much as Frank was her friend, Damon wasn’t, and as much as Frank wasn’t that violent, Damon was.

With another sigh, Chloe looked off to Frank and uncrossed her arms.

“Thanks, Frank.”

He blinked but evened out his expression.

Chloe hesitated.

“You can be a good friend, y’know … when you want to.”

With that, the conversation felt pretty concluded, with Chloe leaving and for once tugging a mostly-compliant-but-still-obviously-thinking Rachel back towards the clubhouse.

After a few steps, though,

“Wait, Chloe …”

Chloe blinked and looked back.

“Yeah?”

Frank frowned, then evened out his expression, hand slowly falling from the raised position it had been in, as though he were to chase after them or something.

But then he just hesitated, and eventually sighed, crossed his arms, and shook his head.

“… nothing. Never mind. You can buy weed again if you want, whenever.”

Chloe smiled just barely.

“Thanks.”

 

While they left, and Frank realized they left in a pretty intimate way, almost stuck to each other, he rubbed at the back of his head and thought about this exchange an awful lot.

It was just some information about some old bitch.

Did he really have to squeeze them like that?

Chloe used to be something more than a client to him.

He almost threw that away – did he really want to?

Something to think about, for sure.

 

As Chloe and Rachel made their way back into the clubhouse and the couch together, all they could really do was think.

And snuggle. Snuggling was good, too.

But mostly think – even with the weed in them, it wasn’t hard to figure how this changed and complicated things.

Rachel’s dad wasn’t just seeing any old woman; he was seeing a drug addict from LA, probably from his past.

That had a lot of implications.

 

Eventually, Rachel sat up a bit – since they’d come to lay down together to just snuggle and think about things communally – and Chloe followed with her automatically.

Rachel frowned.

“I have to talk to my dad about this.”

She turned and looked to Chloe, features quite serious.

“I can’t just … ugh.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head a bit, instead crossing her arms and looking away with a sigh.

Still, Chloe lingered with her affections and closeness, even if Rachel’s attitude seemed to be more serious right now, since touching Rachel was fun and made Chloe feel good.

She hummed thoughtfully, even if she was frowning a bit.

Even with this new knowledge, it didn’t really change much of her feelings, but she could understand why Rachel would find it even _harder_ to keep things calm now.

“This _is_ kinda serious.”

Rachel made a soft appreciative noise at Chloe’s understanding, looking back to her and opening her eyes gently.

“And I – I need you there with me.”

She looked down at some part of Chloe’s body, and Chloe bit her own lip for a second or two.

While it frankly felt amazing to hear those words from her, she knew how true they were, ultimately.

But now that some of the weed was starting to wear and Chloe had yet more examples of how Rachel’s brash forwardness almost backfired, those prickly, thorny doubts came back, again.

Is this what Chloe was, now?

Just someone Rachel dragged along to temper her attitude?

Even when it almost lost her a plug, or got her burned, or – whatever else?

There was no way Rachel would be able to control herself now, Chloe knew.

She was worried how guilty she’d feel if this crap with Rachel’s dad exploded her family, but, without Chloe … it almost certainly would go bad.

And she just didn’t know if she wanted to keep playing Rachel tamer, even if the rest of Rachel was so amazing and breath-taking and perfect.

Damned if she did, damned if she didn’t.

But those words.

Rachel _needed_ her.

Chloe could at least … see this through.

Maybe cool things off a bit afterwards.

Maybe talk to Rachel about all of this.

But for now, Chloe finally smiled.

 

“Right behind you, Rach.”

 

Rachel smiled so warmly and cuddled Chloe back down into a laying position, intertwined.

She knew she could rely on Chloe.

Though they needed some time to let the weed wear off as much as possible, and there was no better way to spend their afterglow than with each other, here, like this.

It allowed them both to stay their wandering, awful thoughts.

For a least a little while longer.

The calm before the storm, maybe


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe confronts Rachel.
> 
> Chloe and Rachel go to dinner. 
> 
> Rachel confronts her dad.
> 
> Rachel learns the truth, and she shatters.
> 
> But Chloe is there to pick up the pieces.
> 
> Later, Frank wishes he could do the same, for Damon.

Just before dinner time, they were skating back to Rachel’s house.

While Chloe had never seen it before, she knew it was in the rich part of town, where people like her didn’t belong or linger.

She could only wonder how nice it would be – but she didn’t have to wonder for very long.

Going down the streets of Rachel’s neighborhood showed nice house after nice house – all massive mansion-like things, clearly costing more than whatever Chloe could make in a whole life time.

Eventually, they stopped at some house that looked as impressive as the houses flanking it on either side, and Rachel just kinda left her skateboard in the yard.

She must have not needed to worry about it getting stolen, like Chloe had to.

Small sigh.

She left her skateboard by Rachel’s and walked a bit more quickly to catch up to her.

They had something they needed to talk about.

Even if Chloe wasn’t particularly looking forward to this conversation.

 

“Hey. About dinner.”

 

Rachel paused, now a few feet shy of her home, and turned to face Chloe, crossing her arms.

“What about?”

Her voice wasn’t as serious as Chloe’s – yet – instead soft and a little playful.

She always smiled so easily looking at Chloe, anyway.

And this gentle happiness that Chloe inspired is what made it so hard to bring this up.

But she had to.

 

“How do you plan to bring this up to your dad, anyway?”

 

Rachel sighed and closed her eyes for a few seconds, that good will expression being pretty effortlessly wiped away with something more serious and thoughtful.

When she opened her eyes, she kind of shrugged.

“I did some thinking. I think I’m going to reveal it during dinner with my mom around – dropping Sera’s name and her outrage will give me enough leverage to _certainly_ have him telling me whatever I need to know.”

When Rachel said it, it sounded all so simple.

But it wasn’t.

At least, there was a new addition to the patented Rachel Fix Everything Now Plan, which came with a slight pause –

“What do you think?”

Chloe blinked, but then frowned.

“Rachel …”

Rachel frowned, too.

Quiet.

Chloe had to wonder if she really wanted to force this issue.

Would Rachel even listen to her?

Would it just upset her?

Chloe quickly decided the cost was worth the risk and took a step closer, crossing her own arms.

“Did that blackmail trick work with Frank, huh? When he almost cut me off?”

Rachel blinked, and her eyes widened a bit.

“What, I –“

Chloe shook her head though, not letting Rachel have edgewise for now,

“- No, just. Shh. Listen to me.”

It was forceful, but Chloe’s heart was in the right place, and even though Rachel did shut up and was frowning, they both knew that.

Chloe kept thinking about backing down, but she kept resolving herself so this situation didn’t seriously backfire.

“Every single time you push hard to fix the problem _now,_ things just get … worse.”

She uncrossed her arms.

“Victoria getting blackmail on you. Finding out about Sera. Your foot. The fire. Frank.”

She let the examples weigh heavily in the air and let Rachel really consider them for a few seconds.

Eventually,

“Chloe, c’mon, that’s not fair, I –“

Chloe grunted and shook her head,

“- _Rachel_.”

Quiet.

They looked hard at each other, both frowning, but eventually Rachel’s eyes went down to Chloe’s shoes, and she sniffled just a bit.

Being called out like that didn’t feel super amazing.

But it had her thinking and doubting, instead of just running off and doing.

Chloe sighed gently and took another step forward until they were adjacent and gently took Rachel’s hands into her own.

Rachel automatically folded into Chloe for a second or two until she recovered, then she looked up to her, eyes a little distraught, but not teary.

“What do you think I should do, then?”

Chloe bit her own lip.

Rachel just looked so cute and Chloe wanted to do nothing more than hug this girl and protect her and tell her everything was going to be fine, even when she couldn’t even begin to make a promise like that.

She could at least make it _easier_.

“If we … have to talk your dad about this, let’s do it privately, with just us, in your room, after dinner. Let’s try and … keep it calm. Not make any accusations of cheating or whatever.”

Rachel sighed so wearily at this, looking down to Chloe’s chest again and considering.

In truth, Rachel knew this was probably the better, safer option, but she just wanted to really put the screws to him for fucking up her life like this.

Maybe this is why she was destined to be with Chloe.

After a few seconds of consideration, she looked back up and gently smiled.

“You’re right, of course …”

Her eyes went back down, even if she liked seeing Chloe’s gentle return smile,

“… I thought about doing that, too. I just –“

Chloe suddenly released Rachel’s hands to hug her tightly,

“- I know. I know. You want him to pay. And you don’t want him to get away – but he won’t. We’re just … handling this the best way we can.”

Rachel appreciated Chloe’s warmth and protection and understanding so much right now she didn’t even have the words.

But she didn’t need words.

Instead, her arms equally came around Chloe, and once again, she was hugged so tightly, so viciously, as though Rachel wanted Chloe to feel every ounce of care and appreciation and affection and maybe even love that was building up.

Unlike earlier, though, Rachel allowed the hug to linger for a while.

She was running out of people she could trust, and Chloe proved time and time again to be worthy of every ounce put into her.

Eventually, Rachel separated from the embrace, and just smiled up at her.

“Yeah. Thank you so much for being here.”

Chloe smiled back down at her.

 

“Anytime, Rachel.”

 

In truth, Chloe somewhat doubted that, even if she had said it a few times, now.

But it was easier to believe if Rachel would listen to her more often and take her advice on things.

Maybe Chloe really could tame her and keep this from going sideways.

That meant something, didn’t it?

 

Eventually, with their battle plan settled on, they entered Rachel’s home.

Rachel took off her shoes and started walking into the kitchen.

It was so of-course and natural for Rachel, but Chloe stopped dead as soon as she entered the home.

Everything looked so expensive and nice.

The walls were lined with happy family photos.

There was a gentle fireplace crackling away contently.

She could hear some gentle humming from more inside the house and smell the nice home-hooked meal that had just been made.

It was just … nice.

Eventually, Chloe realized she was sitting there, doing nothing, so she slowly took a step or two more into the house.

She heard Rachel –

Chloe’s eyes moved over to the kitchen, where Rachel was, but she was having a conversation with her mother, there, and their volume wasn’t loud enough for her to overhear it.

“Ah. You must be Rachel’s friend.”

Chloe blinked again and looked into the living room, which was adjacent to both the kitchen and where she was dumbly standing, to see Rachel’s father, James.

He was sitting in a chair that was pointed at an angle towards the fireplace, meaning he was half-pointed to the entranceway too.

James was smiling, but something about him just wasn’t right.

Maybe it was the knowledge Chloe had about him, maybe it was the way even his evening attire looked fancy and formal, maybe it was the way he crisply folded his newspaper, maybe it was the way his eyes peered into Chloe’ sown, but something just didn’t sit right.

Too perfect.

Too flawless.

It reminded her of Victoria, in a way.

Still, Chloe eventually nodded.

“Uh … yeah. That’s me. Chloe.”

She only just realized how awkward and out-of-place she felt, shoving her hands into her pockets and looking at James.

James just made a flat humming sound.

“Chloe – _oh,_ you’re Chloe!”

He smiled more widely and put his newspaper down,

“Rachel’s told us so much about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

He stood up and walked over to Chloe, offering his hand with that smile of his.

Chloe awkwardly took it, and James squeezed her hand within an inch of its life before he released it and went to sit back down.

“Uhm … nice to meet you too, I guess.”

Still.

Chloe didn’t miss James’ eyes looking up and down her attire, and she knew she was probably being judged for wearing cheap, worn-out clothes, some of which even had holes in them.

She didn’t belong here.

Maybe that’s what reminded her so much of Victoria – James was putting on airs, pretending like she was as welcome as any other rich kid would be.

But she knew she wasn’t.

Eventually, James just shook his head and unfolded his newspaper again.

“I’ll be here if you need anything. My wonderful wife should be finishing up preparations right now, so, feel free to take a seat at the dinner table.”

Chloe let that go without any sort of response and looked around to find where the dining room was – on the other side of the kitchen.

Rachel was setting out placements.

Chloe sighed again and moved over to her to find out which seat Rachel was going to take.

 

Things kinda sped up from there.

 

As Rachel finished putting the placements down and they all took their seats, Rachel’s mother, Rose, got some wine for James.

Unsurprisingly, the meal that was made looked exquisite and perfect – and expensive. A steak.

Steak dinners were always big family events at Chloe’s house.

This didn’t feel that significant, though, just something they ate whenever they wanted to.

Even the cutlery and the dining plates looked expensive.

There were too many knives and spoons for Chloe to know what to do with, but she was apparently expected to just know, anyway.

Chloe muddled through.

The table conversations were … uneasy at times.

Rose gave off the same sort of polite fakeness that James did, but Chloe found herself not minding, since she could just look at Rachel and relax and smile a bit.

Chloe could tell Rachel was struggling, but she was also managing; particularly whenever her dad asked Rachel something, Chloe made a habit of playing footsie with her or quickly but briefly rubbing at some part of Rachel’s arm or hand – all automatically – to try and steady her.

And it seemed like it mostly worked.

Chloe kept Rachel from getting too angry, and Rachel kept Chloe from feeling too awkward.

While Chloe felt like she didn’t belong, Rachel made every possible move to affirm her place here – she never rejected Chloe’s touches, she inched her seat a bit closer to Chloe’s, so they were nearly adjacent at the table, she genuinely seemed to relax when the conversation shifted to Chloe and her relationship with Rachel.

Apparently, Rachel _had_ told them quite a lot.

They knew, for example, that Chloe was a trusted friend, that they went to the same school, and that Chloe sometimes helped her with homework or drama class.

But they also knew how much time they had been spending together, lately.

They seemed supportive.

Chloe still doubted it was genuine.

Eventually, dinner ended without incident or fury, and Rachel helped her mother clean the plates.

James went off to go drink some more wine and read some more.

Chloe just kinda awkwardly sat there for a few moments but decided being near Rachel would be a good idea, so she did that.

Chloe got up without pushing her seat in and got up behind Rachel – hugging her from behind, completely without thought.

There was a brief moment where they both tensed up and realized they were being pretty openly affectionate, but Rose just smiled at them, so they both relaxed and enjoyed the attention either way.

Chloe remained like that, just kind of obnoxiously but cutely hugging Rachel, until she had finished, at which point they separated, but stayed close.

Rachel looked over to James, and then to Chloe, and they both nodded and moved to him – though not before Rose gave Chloe a similar ‘nice to meet you’ goodbye.

James looked up from his book when he saw the two of them just standing there, almost touching from how close they were.

This almost raised an eyebrow, but he kept any such remarking off of his face.

He wasn’t dumb, and he saw how Chloe touched his daughter, and how close they were, and there was some defensiveness internally from him, particularly since Chloe didn’t look reputable, but … it was also nice to see Rachel being like that with someone.

Still, Rachel looked at him, and she wasn’t smiling.

“Dad. Can you – come upstairs and talk with me for a minute? In private?”

James blinked, but smiled and nodded.

She sounded a little troubled, but of course, that was a good reason to ask for a conversation.

They hadn’t been doing enough of that lately, anyway.

“Of course, sweetie.”

He raised his wine glass up,

“Just let me finish up and I’ll be right there.”

Rachel just nodded.

“Right.”

And then they turned to leave.

James didn’t miss, either, Chloe’s arm coming around to rub at Rachel’s back and her shoulders.

Close indeed.

 

As they entered Rachel’s room, Chloe was mostly relieved that everything so far had gone according to plan, and Rachel managed to control herself.

Even more, Rachel’s parents seemed totally fine with the idea of them being physically affectionate.

… or they were just politely faking it – hard to tell.

Either way, Rachel sighed a bit and walked ahead of Chloe to her bed to slump down on it.

Chloe almost followed after her but examined her room in the meantime.

Rachel’s room was expectedly tidy, but there were additions Chloe wasn’t expecting – namely, lots of posters of various stuff.

One or two boybands – the kind of stuff Max used to like – some astrology star charts or whatever they were – then reams of posters about theater and the various Broadway shows Rachel liked watching, possibly dreaming about participating in.

There was one for the tempest right above her bed, even.

Other than the sheer size of the room – probably twice as big as Chloe’s – and how nice all of the furniture seemed, everything else was more-or-less as Chloe expected it to be.

But it didn’t feel like Rachel spent a lot of time in here, partially due to how clean and tidy everything was, partially because it just didn’t feel lived-in.

There were no marks on the walls from accidents, there were no graffiti or anything that looked like Rachel had kept it a while as a keep sake – everything looked sterile.

Like she had bought it just as the school year started, even.

Chloe couldn’t even imagine that.

Eventually, Chloe made her way to the bed with Rachel, and sat down next to her.

Rachel was still slumped and quiet, so Chloe wrapped an arm around to tug her into her side, again.

“That went … okay.”

Rachel nodded, gently.

“As well as it could have, though … I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

Chloe thought about being genuine and honest, but – she smirked, instead.

“Probably hit something? That table’s nice. Probably would break easily.”

Rachel scoffed but it was amused and she was smiling.

“Yeah ….”

Rachel, frankly, had been given even more to think about ever since that dressing-down from Chloe, earlier.

Even if Chloe was destined to be with her, did she deserve to be wrapped up in all of this?

Half the time it felt like Rachel just dragged her to go somewhere and the assumption that she would want to do it anyway was usually correct, but – still.

Rachel found herself caring if Chloe thought all she did was get dragged around like that.

Maybe after this bullshit was over with they could just like – go on a couple really nice, romantic dates, something they both planned on together and thought through.

And it was tempting to just plan alone and excitedly involve Chloe in it, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep doing that to her.

Rachel wanted to be a good friend, especially to Chloe, and lately it felt like she had been asking so much more than she was giving back.

That had to be resolved.

Eventually.

Chloe kept rubbing, seeing the obvious thought on Rachel’s face.

“What’cha thinking about?”

Rachel sighed wearily.

“Everything. Nothing.”

She then thought about it for a second or two.

That wasn’t the answer Chloe deserved.

“No, I – ugh. What you said earlier.”

Chloe blinked.

“Oh. Um. That. Well, I –“

 

Before they could have the conversation, though, someone – presumably James – knocked on Rachel’s door.

Rachel groaned and closed her eyes, hugging Chloe briefly before sitting more upright.

“Come in.”

Chloe didn’t remove her hand, though – she figured it would be needed for this conversation, one way or another.

James opened the door and paused when he saw both how intimate their position was and the fact Chloe was still here, but the pause was pretty brief, since he somewhat suspected that this might be a conversation that directly involved her, anyway, and so soon he was walking in with a warm smile.

James brought the chair from Rachel’s desk over to the bed, a few feet away from them, and crossed a leg over as he sat down.

They all just kind of looked at each other for a few seconds.

Eventually,

“Is there something you two need to tell me?”

Chloe blinked.

Did James just -

Chloe could briefly feel Rachel tensing up, but Chloe was able to alleviate that with another particularly forceful shoulder rub.

Rachel hesitated but then sighed and shook her head.

“Dad. I know about Sera. And I saw you two kissing in the park. I want to know everything.”

She kept it as level as she could, which for Rachel’s standards, was surprisingly calm and even-headed, and Chloe was impressed.

James just blinked only a couple hundred times.

“You – you _what_ – I, I tried so hard to keep –“

Rachel tensed up again and frowned,

“To keep _what_ from me, Dad?”

There it was.

Even with Rachel trying, emotions started to seep into her voice – somewhere between distraught and angry.

Her voice was slightly raised.

Chloe kept rubbing.

James went quiet after that, his expression sullen and fallen as his eyes looked down and he realized the implications of everything.

It was a few seconds before he looked back up at the two and frowned very slightly, more pouted, as if in thought.

“I suppose it’s no good trying to hide it from you any further, if you know about that.”

He crossed his arms, breathed in deep, closed his eyes, and let that breath out so slowly, as if it pained him to do it.

Eventually, he opened his eyes, and he looked to Chloe.

“Are you sure you want _her_ here for this? It’s … very personal family business.”

Rachel didn’t even hesitate.

“Yes. She deserves to know as much as I do.”

James looked back to her.

“I … see.”

He then just shook his head and cleared his throat, trying to put the very obvious implication that Chloe was family now out of his mind,

“That woman – Sera. She’s your … biological mother.”

What.

Holy shit.

Both Chloe and Rachel’s eyes widened at that, and James couldn’t meet their gaze.

Rachel’s breathing started to pick up, almost hyperventilating,

“W-what?! No – it can’t – she can’t …”

Any semblance of control was gone.

She was even shaking, and Chloe didn’t blame her – though she moved her hand from Rachel’s shoulder down to her side to tug her in again, in some sort of desperate attempt to steady her.

James’ eyes went back to them.

“It’s the truth. Your biological mother is … well, she’s a very special woman to me, but she wasn’t good for you. Instead of taking care of you, she’d be out partying, or doing drugs, or – any number of completely inappropriate and irresponsible things.”

Rachel just didn’t know what to say.

Now even her mother was a lie.

“No …”

She felt herself kind of shutting down at the news, but thankfully, Chloe was right there, and she was a convenient place to crash while her mind worked through this.

James bit his lip and raised a hand up, leaning towards Rachel some –

“Rachel, please, I know this is hard on you, but – your _real_ mother, my wife, has been nothing but amazing to you - and – and - you’ve had such a good life and –“

Rachel didn’t look at him,

 

“- _Leave_.”

 

In her voice there was just, so, so much agony – it was short, but pathetically wavering. It was sad, but impossibly angry. It was hurt, but so forceful, and strong.

James hesitated but slowly let his hand fall and he stood up.

He could understand her needing some alone time – this was a lot to take in, after all.

“I … okay. You need your time. But – just, when you’re ready, come talk to me.”

His voice got softer, more fragile, remorseful, even.

“I never wanted you to get hurt – or for her to hurt _you_.”

Rachel barely even processed the words, and she was so melted into Chloe and beaten down from her reality.

It tore into James to see her like this, but he mostly only blamed himself.

If only he was better at keeping it all under wraps …

Either way, he sighed and walked over to Rachel’s door.

 

Rachel was definitely crying by the time he was gone and slumped to the point that Chloe helped her down into a cuddled laying position.

This was another situation Chloe simply didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t always have to say things.

She could just be there.

Her arms tightly wrapped around Rachel in familiar, comforting ways, and Rachel slotted herself and intertwined her body with Chloe in familiar, comforting ways.

 

This reveal cut even harder than the one about her dad, even if she felt closer to her dad before all of this.

It was just so unfair.

It was just such bullshit.

This basically meant not just her entire life with her dad growing up was a lie, but literally the whole thing was.

She never knew who her family actually was, and her dad went out of his way to keep her from ever knowing, to keep her blind and ignorant of her reality, and her true heritage.

And her biological mother was – what? Some drug addict abuser?

She was probably a fucking liar too.

Everybody lies.

No exceptions.

Her friends lied to her, saying of course Chloe would be fine if she came into drama class – then they just turn around and stab her in the back and make fun of Chloe.

Her family lied to her, about their very relationships and existence.

Of course, not everyone was a liar – sometimes people were just miserable assholes instead.

Like Drew, punching out Chloe and running away.

Or Victoria, using any little leverage she had over Rachel to get ahead in life.

Even Wells and the school’s nurse, acting so uncaring about Chloe …

This is what the world was.

This is what she had to deal with.

There are only two types of people in this world, and they both just suck.

As this thought then completed, Rachel grunted a little in frustration and put some space between her and Chloe, even if she immediately regretted lacking her touch.

She felt so cold without it.

But she had to – she had to do _something_.

Chloe blinked and carefully watched as Rachel turned to lay on her front then get up a little so she could hit at her pillow, once, twice, three times – no.

Not this again.

“Hey – hey, hey … sh-sh-sh …”

Chloe had no fucking clue what to do.

But she had to do something.

She wrapped her arms around the increasingly-violent Rachel and hugged tight and viscerally, as if trying to squeeze the air out of her lungs.

Rachel breathed in deep and stilled herself with Chloe’s renewed touch.

The sensible thing to do would be to let her calm her down, and … yeah.

Rachel did, this time.

Nothing good ever came out of pushing herself away from Chloe, anyway.

Her body was stiff and tense but she allowed herself to yield and relent under Chloe’s warmth.

She closed her eyes and just sighed deeply, wearily, miserably.

And Chloe helped – a little.

As Rachel knowingly worked through the stages of grief there were thoughts of the implications of all of this.

Rachel couldn’t trust Rose, anymore, for keeping this from her, for playing the same game her dad did.

Maybe she was even in on him meeting Sera, too – fuck if Rachel knew.

She couldn’t trust her dad, obviously, and she wasn’t especially close to any of her other relatives or her grandparents.

She didn’t have any brothers or sisters and all of her friends were either assholes, liars, or sycophantic gossipers.

What did this mean for her future?

Her real mother might be someone she could trust – maybe – she’d have to find out, maybe the hard way.

And there was Chloe …

So maybe things weren’t entirely hopeless?

Ugh.

What were the odds that Chloe and her mother were somehow exceptions to this?

Chloe was amazing, and she was always there for her, and she was so caring and kind and –

Rachel didn’t know everything about her.

It was exactly the same situation as with her dad.

She only knew what Chloe wanted her to, which, to be fair, was a lot – and included stuff like her personal family life, even.

Her mother was even longer shot – all Rachel knew about her is she kissed her dad, after he remarried, which wasn’t exactly a good first impression.

But now with the new context of what her dad provided, it was pretty clear what he was talking about earlier – keeping Sera from Rachel.

And if Frank and company had no clue why Sera was here, well … it must have been to see Rachel.

Did she come all the way from Cali to see her?

What did she want to say to her?

Rachel decided regardless of the fact her mother was at-once a drug addict and her father spoke so poorly of her, she needed to see just what she wanted to say, and why she came all of this way to say it.

As for Chloe …

Rachel dreaded there was something Chloe had been keeping from her, something that would make her feel equally betrayed, something that would show her that the people in this world were consistently awful and selfish.

Maybe Chloe just wanted her for the sex, and this was all a big game to get into her pants.

She certainly had the crush for it.

Maybe Chloe just wanted to be dating the most popular girl on campus, to have the privileges afforded from that – even with Rachel doing things like vouching for her for Wells and defending her from Drew.

Maybe Chloe just wanted a vent, as most did, and Rachel was good at listening.

Or maybe – just maybe – Chloe was different.

Maybe this is why fate brought them together; to let Rachel realize who the true real people in her life were, and how they had nothing to do with family.

It was a thought she _wanted_ to believe so desperately.

She wanted this thing with Chloe to be real and legitimate, but these fucking thoughts kept picking away at her.

Rachel just … had to be sure before she put every last of her remaining eggs in Chloe’s basket.

She had to know the real Chloe – every part of Chloe.

After spending entirely too long soaking up Chloe’s warmth, Rachel regrettably pulled away just enough to look up at her and didn’t care at all her eyes were completely fucked and red and her face soaked.

Rachel just had to be sure.

“Chloe …”

Chloe blinked and looked down at her carefully, but warmly, trying to be brave and smile even though Rachel was completely devastated now,

“Yeah …?”

And their voices were so quiet and gentle – Rachel’s even a little hoarse.

She cleared her throat.

“I – I need you to tell me _everything_ about you. _Everything._ ”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel’s eyes went down.

“Every little secret, every little embarrassing moment, everything you’re not proud of, everything you don’t want me to know … I need to know I know the real you.”

She sighed.

“I’m not even sure there’s anyone real left in this world.”

It was a pretty depressing thought.

She didn’t want to linger on it anymore, so Rachel shook her head a little and her eyes went back up.

“So … if you can be real with me, I promise you, I’ll be real with you. No secrets. Nothing. Whatever you want to know.”

Chloe thought about it, but not really, since the answer was pretty obvious, and not just because she wanted to reassure Rachel after this awful revelation.

She nodded.

“Yeah, Rach, of course … anything you want to know, too.”

They both smiled a bit, but then sat through a few seconds of awkward silence before they realized they needed to actually … talk about every little thing.

Rachel just came up with this idea literally five seconds ago and didn’t like build up a checklist in her mind of topics to go over.

Chloe didn’t even know where she could possibly begin with a charge as broad as ‘everything about you’.

Rachel was the first to speak, after rushing her brain.

 

“What’s your greatest fear?”

 

Chloe hummed thoughtfully but didn’t think on it too long.

“Dying alone. I want to know I’m loved. Yours?”

Rachel returned the hum.

“That would suck. Dying too young. I want to know I did something.”

Chloe made an appreciative noise.

They could both see the reasoning in each other’s responses.

As it turns out, that became something of a running theme.

 

The pace started to pick up a bit as they both thought about it more and had more ideas come into their mind.

Some things were trivial and went by even quicker – favorite foods, like Chloe’s taco and pizza versus Rachel’s Italian and French, career goals, which Chloe had none, disappointingly, and Rachel had _too many_ , and other little surface-level tidbits like favorite colors – they both liked blue – and greatest fear – neither liked bugs too much, especially spiders.

These exchanges were, oddly enough, just what Rachel needed to distract herself away from her awful thoughts – and Chloe from her doubts.

It just felt nice when they agreed on something, or their ideas were complementary, or even when they were totally different and to explain their heretical decisions.

Sooner or later, they were even smiling and giggling.

 

But not all of the topics they brought up were first-date material.

 

After enough of those questions, Rachel felt like she had a better handle on Chloe, but she wasn’t getting in _deep_.

But she could fix that.

 

“What’s something about you that you don’t want me to know?”

 

Chloe obviously hesitated on this and very obviously had to convince herself to go forward with the answer, but it did come, reliably enough.

“I … didn’t sass those guys at the bar, when we first met. I just stole a beer accidentally and Damon pulled a fucking knife on me for it – and I was terrified, not brave. What about, um, you?”

Rachel hummed appreciatively at this, and it was definitely something that gave her more insight into the human that Chloe was.

Not some kind of badass, at least, not all of the time – she still had the fear of god in her, even when she picked fights.

Of course, Rachel had to think about something to return with, that would give Chloe similar insight.

This was actually more difficult than she realized when she planned on asking the question, since she didn’t really have any easy events like that to point to in her life.

She had something … else.

“Hmmmm. Well.”

Rachel breathed in a deep sigh.

“I’m not scared of losing a fight or whatever. I’m scared of being complacent.”

Chloe blinked.

“Complacent?”

Rachel just nodded.

“Doing the same things as everyone else. Working for the same goals. Working the same jobs. Living the same lives. Just … doing what I’m supposed to, until they bury me six feet under.”

She sighed.

“That’s not living. That’s just existing. I want to live my own life.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

“And by your own rules.”

Rachel smiled.

“Exactly.”

Chloe understood this, at least – if she thought about it for a bit.

Any solid future would be a step up from her own, and she just really never thought too much about five, ten, twenty years in the future … but now she suddenly was, with Rachel right here.

 

At some point, when Rachel had recovered enough, their positions changed.

They both laid on their back, just staring up at Rachel’s ceiling, holding each other’s hand.

At some other point, Rachel got up from the bed to turn off the lights and turn on a special light on her dresser, designed to project stars onto her ceiling – to give them something to look at – and despite Chloe’s earlier assessment of her room, this particular item has personal meaning to her.

 

They both just stared at the stars while the conversation continued, occasionally looking at each other.

 

“Are you getting over your dad?”

Chloe kind of scoffed.

“Are you?”

Rachel scoffed, too, and looked over to her plainly.

“Kindly answer the question, Price.”

Chloe kind of sighed and closed her eyes, thinking.

“No.”

She grumbled.

“I never get over anything.”

Rachel blinked.

“Never? Anything?”

Chloe just shook her head.

“Half my room is mementos. … probably more than half, actually. Um – every pet I’ve had, we still have like – all of the stuff for ‘em, in the attic. My mom yells at me constantly to throw away some shit she thinks is trash but … it means something, to me.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

“I keep some stuff, too …”

Chloe finally opened her eyes and looked over to Rachel.

“Yeah? Like what?”

Rachel sighed a bit wearily and it was her turn to close her eyes.

“When I was very young, my dad gave me some stuff he said were family heirlooms. Like this bracelet,”

She gestured her free arm up to show it off,

“And my earring. I think … they belonged to Sera. I think that’s why I never let them off of me, even when I didn’t know who they were from, or what their story was ...”

Chloe scoffed again.

“Never? You shower with a bracelet and earring on?”

Rachel shrugged and opened her eyes with a smile.

“Wouldn’t _you_ like to know how I look in the shower. But yeah. I got the bracelet laminated and everything so it wouldn’t even smell and it would last forever.”

She then looked to the ceiling.

“I mostly don’t even think about them they’re so much a part of me.”

Chloe sighed.

“I wish I had something that meaningful and valuable to keep around instead of old junk.”

Rachel hummed flatly.

“You know you don’t mean that, Chloe …”

Chloe blinked.

“I don’t?”

Rachel shook her head.

“Of course not. You only keep that stuff because it means something - to you. That’s why it has value.”

Chloe grunted.

“Are you seriously comparing like – my broken tape recorder with your family heirlooms?”

Rachel just simply nodded.

“I mean … it’s not like you have a hot earring to wear, but yeah. Exactly that.”

Chloe just rolled her eyes.

That conversation felt done, but, still, Rachel wasn’t satisfied.

“I’ve talked a lot about my dad … why don’t you tell me about yours.”

Chloe sighed pretty wearily and looked plainly at Rachel.

“He was – the best man I had ever met in my life.”

Rachel was vaguely sensing a pattern – Max was the best friend she had ever met; her dad was the best man she had ever met, but she decided not to vocalize that thought.

Chloe continued.

“He could always make me feel happy when I was sad. He knew exactly how to play into the games Max and I would always want to play.”

Speaking of Max.

“He tried to get me into like – everything.”

Rachel looked over to her now.

“Everything?”

Chloe nodded.

“Everything. Cars, guns, beauty, music, science – everything.”

Rachel hummed flatly.

“And none of it stuck?”

Chloe shook her head.

“No … I mean, all of it did, to some extent, but now I just read a car magazine and I think about my dad rambling about sparkplugs and I just – I just can’t.”

She sounded a little soft at the end there, maybe even wavering.

Rachel thought about it a bit, and maybe she could even sympathize – if her dad actively tried to get her into something, it’d certainly be tainted, now.

“Is that why you’re not trying in like – chemistry?”

Chloe shrugged at that.

“No. Yes. I don’t know.”

She sighed and closed her eyes.

“No one cares if I fuck up in school ‘sept my mom. Everyone’s just given up. They know I’m too stupid to teach.”

Rachel frowned and properly turned on her side from this to raise one of her hands up and affectionately stroke at Chloe’s cheek.

“Chloe … you know I hate it when you talk like that.”

Chloe opened her eyes but immediately looked down, not keeping eye contact.

“It’s true. I’m worthless.”

Rachel got closer again, and Chloe raised a hand up to holding the hand at her cheek – not keeping it still, just clasping over it and holding it.

“Remember what we just talked about?”

Chloe blinked and looked up, finally.

“Huh?”

Rachel smiled.

“Things have value if they mean something to someone. If you mean sometime to me, you can’t be worthless.”

Chloe blushed a little and sighed contently.

“Do I mean something to you?”

Rachel just nodded.

“A whole galaxy’s worth of stars …”

Chloe closed her eyes and absorbed that.

“Really?”

Rachel nodded again, giggling a little and burying her face somewhere into Chloe’s neck.

She felt she had a much better handle on Chloe now – her insecurities, her strengths, what made her tick.

She felt like she knew the real Chloe, and the real Chloe is someone she wanted to stay in her life.

Maybe for the rest of it.

“Yeah … in fact, tell me what you think of when you look up at the night sky.”

Rachel sounded so dreamy.

Chloe thought about it for a bit.

“I guess … I feel insignificant. In the scale of the universe we’re hardly even a dust mite, so it kinda puts problems into perspective.”

Rachel just hummed gently.

“Hmmm. I see beauty. The world is limitless – we can explore and explore and explore and even dedicate our entire lives to it and yet not see one tenth of it all.”

She sighed.

“The stars never let us forget that. The world is our oyster.”

Chloe closed her eyes and thought about it, herself.

They both appreciated each other’s perspectives.

It was a nice thing, then, to just sit there, and think about it with the literal representation of stars plastered across the fake night sky of Rachel’s ceiling.

They held that for a while, just laying, thinking, but – eventually,

 

“And – speaking of exploring, Chloe. I’ve been thinking.”

 

Chloe smirked, just barely.

“Oh no.”

Rachel laughed and playfully lowered her hand to slap at Chloe’s belly.

“Oh shut up. But seriously.”

Chloe looked down to the Rachel nestled into her side,

“Yeah?”

Rachel hesitated.

“Earlier, when we took the train over to the park, and you told me if you could do anything you just wanted to visit Max … I got a little jealous.”

Chloe blinked.

“Really?”

Rachel nodded gently.

“Really. I couldn’t figure out why until later – I think … I want to travel the world with you, Chloe. Starting with LA.”

She sighed.

“Fuck all of these haters and liars. We’ll just – live it up on our own, maybe on the beach, maybe West Hollywood, maybe downtown, I don’t know – I’ll be a famous Hollywood actor, and you’ll be my sexy trophy wife …”

Chloe sighed slowly and contently.

“That sounds nice …”

Rachel smirked.

“And if we can make it in LA … we can make it anywhere in the world. Fuck everyone else. We only need each other.”

Chloe smiled.

It was such a nice thought – and it was the first time Chloe had an option for her future that didn’t seem abysmal.

Even if Rachel wasn’t perfect, she was trying to be better, and Chloe could help her be better. She was actually listening, and acknowledged her faults, and tried to steady herself when Chloe wanted her to.

Who knows how this whole mess would have turned out without her, but surely worse-off.

Maybe that applied to the whole of Rachel’s life, too, and whatever adventures she went on …

The day dreaming, of sorts, was interrupted by Rachel continuing.

She patted at Chloe’s belly.

“But first. We need to find Sera and talk to her. I need to know why she came here to see me.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

“Well – we can talk to James –“

Rachel frowned.

“- _You_ can talk to James. I want nothing to do with that … lying prick.”

Chloe sighed a bit too wearily.

Resentment.

Maybe this is something else she’d have to talk to Rachel about, but Chloe didn’t have much of a room to speak – she didn’t get over anything and didn’t even know how to begin to.

“Okay. Okay. _I’ll_ talk to James, and _we_ can talk to Frank.”

Rachel hummed.

“You think he’ll tell us anything?”

Chloe shrugged.

“He’s my friend. He has to. Worst case is we … talk to Damon if he won’t.”

Rachel sighed.

 

“I guess it’s better than no leads. Alright.”

 

The winding down of the day had them change their positions once again – this time, stripping until they were only in their underwear, purposefully abstaining from nightgowns, and sleeping together snuggled under the sheets, with Rachel in Chloe’s side, since Rachel liked sleeping on her side and Chloe liked sleeping on her back.

Like they were made to fit into each other, or something.

This intimacy didn’t feel wrong – it felt right.

The could touch each other wherever they wanted to.

They spent the rest of the night, until they fell asleep, just talking about this and that, and swapping various scandalizing stories, like the one time Chloe woke up with a roach on her hand and managed to fling it clear across the room until it went _splat_ on a wall, or the one time Rachel’s mother accidentally ruined Rachel’s hair while cutting it and Rachel was terrified of being seen in school like that.

 

Chloe made a point of holding Rachel’s arm by the wrist, where the bracelet was.

For some reason, it just felt reassuring to stroke it.

 

Right as their eyes were closed and they were both about to fall asleep for good, as their tenderness stilled and all they felt was the idle warmth from each other in the cold world, Rachel breathed in deeply.

“Chloe?”

Her voice was so gentle, now, barely above a whisper.

Chloe made an equally soft inquisitive sound.

“I want to know what you really think of me. Like … honestly.”

Chloe blinked her eyes open to see mostly darkness, but of course, Rachel, too, still buried into her side so cutely.

With some agony she realized she was going to have to wake up a little to engage with this.

“Yeah …?”

Rachel nodded slowly.

“Yeah. Don’t hold anything back.”

Chloe closed her eyes and thought about it for a bit, with her hand resuming stroking that bracelet now that she was waking up again.

There were parts of this question that were easy to talk about, so – that’s where Chloe started.

“Well …”

Chloe shifted onto her side and down a little so they were face-to-face, practically breathing into each other’s mouths, and just stared nakedly into Rachel’s once-closed-but-now-open eyes.

“I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. Inside and out.”

Rachel of course smiled warmly at this, but shook her head a little,

“No, I mean like – “

Chloe rubbed her forehead on Rachel’s own,

“- I know, shhhh, let me finish.”

Rachel huffed a bit but happily shut up to receive the forehead contact, closing her eyes and relenting again as Chloe’s arm came around her to gently hug her.

It took Chloe a few seconds to psyche herself up to continue.

“But – you have one hell of an attitude, sometimes …”

Rachel hummed flatly, considering.

Chloe still wasn’t done.

“Like – it worries me a little. I don’t know if I’m always going to be around when you pick a fight you can’t win, because you got it in your head something ought to change _right now_ …”

Rachel then frowned a little, but also appreciated Chloe’s honesty, even if this felt like more of an extension of her earlier dressing down.

Chloe smiled, despite it all, removing her hugged arm to instead gently ride up Rachel’s half-naked sides and start affectionately rubbing at her cheek.

“But at the same time – I love that strong will. It makes me think we can do the impossible, so long as you set your mind to it.”

Rachel sighed happily at this and smiled again.

Of course, Chloe’s opinion of her biased mostly positively, and that still felt honest, since, well, they were basically in a relationship, now, but she could still be honest about what she saw were shortcomings, and that felt genuine, too.

Chloe bit her lip a little.

“What about me?”

Rachel blinked her eyes open and didn’t have to think about it very much, simply smiling.

“If I said your beauty compared to the stars themselves I’d be doing you a disservice.”

Chloe smiled so wide, happily, eyes barely open but still beaming.

Rachel brought her own hand up to stroke at Chloe’s cheek, too, so they were mirroring each other.

She continued.

“But I think … the woman that I’m falling for hasn’t yet reached her final form.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel just smiled and continued further.

“Sooner or later, when you learn you’re allowed to take up space and put confidence in who you are … you’re going to become an unstoppable force of nature, Chloe.”

Rachel closed her eyes.

“I just know it. You’ll be amazing.”

As the words sank in, they both just appreciated each other’s presence and particularly their stroking hands on each other’s cheek.

And Chloe felt – really, really good after that.

Like impossibly good.

It was a weird feeling that she hadn’t felt in a while – maybe years, even.

Hope – maybe even happiness.

This – this was a moment.

This felt right.

Chloe felt like she knew what to do.

She leaned a bit forward and puckered her lips and closed her eyes oh so slowly but –

She felt herself kissing one of Rachel’s fingers instead of her lips, surprisingly.

Chloe blinked her eyes open to see Rachel’s finger up between their lips, and couldn’t help the immediate feeling of rejection, but Rachel was smiling so wide.

She eventually let the hand move back to Chloe’s cheek.

“No … not yet.”

Chloe frowned before she could help it,

“Not yet?”

Rachel nodded gently and lowered herself down to rest on Chloe’s chest, again, with her hand coming down with her.

“Not yet. I know you want to kiss me … and I want to kiss you. But I want the moment to be magical.”

They both closed their eyes again, and Chloe slowly shifted to be on her back again, since it seemed like Rachel wanted to melt into her side, and the intuition was of course correct, since that’s the first thing Rachel did.

 

Chloe didn’t know how a moment could be more magical than how Rachel just made her feel.

 

“I feel pretty magical right now, Rach …”

Rachel sighed into her chest dreamily,

“I know, I know … so do I. But.”

She got up very slightly just to look seriously at Chloe,

“I want to remember our first kiss for the rest of my life. I want it to be the kind of thing I can think about when I feel awful, or unloved, or low … and I don’t want to remember all of this bullshit with my mom and dad as baggage with it.”

Chloe looked down at her and thought about it some more, and … she liked Rachel’s point, actually.

If they kissed now, Chloe would always have to remember it was something out of desperation from the drama with Rachel’s dad escalating to a point neither of them anticipated nor wanted.

They could do better.

“You want to kiss on our own terms.”

Rachel smiled and nodded, melting back into Chloe’s side.

“Exactly … after all of this … on a nice romantic trip out into the woods, or something … with only us, and all of the bullshit miles away ...”

Chloe closed her eyes and murmured happily, finishing the thought for Rachel.

“Watching the stars in the night sky and appreciating their beauty, and our sobering insignificance in the world.”  

Rachel sighed dreamily.

She could imagine it so perfectly.

Chloe could, too.

 

It was a pretty nice way to fall asleep.

 

\---

 

Not everyone saw peace or beauty when they looked up to the night sky.

As Frank drove his RV damn near as fast as he could to the Mill, where Damon was, what he mostly saw was the oppressive ickly blackness of smog and smoke in the night sky, and the life-consuming fires that spawned them.

Unfortunately, getting to the Mill meant driving _into_ the woods – the fucking woods that were burning freakishly fast – and the worry that he might get trapped was there, but the worry that _Damon_ might get trapped was there, too, and more salient.

Damon stubbornly insisted to not move his base of operations, despite the fire, believing it would never burn all the way down to where he was – since wildfires rarely did, and up and moving everything was a costly sort of thing to consider.

 

But this was no ordinary fire.

This was an inferno.

 

A couple of times, he thought to just stop and turn around – particularly when he saw some embers and small fires on the ground near the road, but he always remembered Damon in those moments, and he never stopped pushing.

 

Eventually, he made it, though he would have been better off not seeing what he did, and he gasped as he parked his RV shy of the Mill – a bit farther than usual, since –

It was on fire.

Completely bathed in red-hot flames, reaching out to the sky unnaturally and unnervingly high, almost cartoonishly so, like unreal hell fire.

He didn’t see Damon or any of his crew anywhere …

Quickly, Frank got out of his RV, but immediately starting coughing when he did.

There was smoke _everywhere_.

This was not good.

If he spent too long inhaling this, he knew he would pass out, and that probably meant death, so he got down lower to the ground as he moved towards the Mill, trying to find some clue of where Damon was.

 

He got his answer soon enough, but it was another thing where he would have been better off not.

 

A figure suddenly erupted out from the front entrance of the Mill, on fire – Damon, ashy and all, Frank quickly realized – and got down to the ground to roll the fire off.

Frank hurriedly made his way over to help pat the flames off but getting closer to the Mill and the fires meant inhaling more smoke.

After Damon was put out, he rolled onto his back and looked up at Frank, and for just the barest of moments, they both smiled.

But then Damon frowned and shoved Frank away, getting up into a sitting position.

Frank blinked.

“C’mon man we gotta get out of here –“

Damon just shook his head and looked over to Frank,

“- the fucking dogs, Frank! They’re still in there. They’re --- they’re going to fucking burn to death!”

Frank blinked, looking to the Mill again – now even the entrance was coated in flames.

A rescue operation seemed impossible now.

He looked back to Damon,

“There’s no way, man, just look at that! You’ll burn to death.”

Damon stubbornly stood up, even if meant getting directly into the smoke, and started walking back towards the mill, impossibly even towards the literal wall of fire in front of him, even coughing as he did so.

“Then I burn to death.”

Frank got up after him, and while Damon’s determination was frankly an attractive trait sometimes, being suicidal sure as hell wasn’t.

He put both of his hands on Damon’s shoulders, tugging him back, and even if Damon shoved him away sort of immediately, he did stop to turn to face him, at least.

Frank looked kind of desperate, and for just a moment, it weakened Damon’s resolve.

“Frank …”

Frank shook his head, trying to keep his composure,

“I can’t lose you. I know you love the dogs, but – me? Think about it.”

It came with a pretty sick-sounding deep-chest cough.

Damon looked down, at the ashy ground below them, and thought about it with his arms crossed.

“… damn it, Frank. … alright.”

Coughing, though, Damon pushed his way past Frank and started walking towards the RV.

Frank was never more relieved to see Damon in his RV as when they both got inside of it.

 

Frank put his RV into gear and got the hell out of that hellfire before it was too late.

 

Much later, Frank parked at one of his habitual camping spots out by the beach.

The still-coughing Damon appeared out of his room as soon as the RV was parked and immediately left to go think outside, probably.

Frank didn’t blame him but felt like he might need a shoulder to lean on, right now, so he followed after.

Damon stood with a beer in one hand and oddly a cigarette in the other, leaning on the RV and just watching the waves.

They always found the beach so relaxing.

It reminded them of home.

Frank walked beside him and leaned on the RV adjacent, but for a while, neither said anything, just staring out to the calming waters.

 

Eventually, though, Damon took a hit of his cigarette and coughed.

“You should have let me go in there. I coulda … I coulda made a difference.”

Frank just scoffed.

“Yeah, sure. You know how many times I’ve saved your ass by now?”

Damon didn’t look at him.

“Enough.”

Frank nodded.

“Yeah, exactly … when you gonna start caring about the people you leave behind?”

Damon just scoffed, taking another coughing hit.

“Ain’t no one shedding no tears when I die. I know that.”

Frank frowned.

“Damon …”

Damon just shook his head, shoving off the RV and walking more towards the beach.

Frank didn’t park his RV on the beach proper, of course, just a road-accessible grassy overlook, very close to the beach itself.

Damon walked to the edge until his feet almost hit the sand.

Frank followed, again.

“C’mon man, you know –“

Damon turned around, frowning.

“- Frank, just – stop.”

Frank did, returning the frown – his arms lowering, as they had come up to gesticulate with his words.

Quiet.

Damon shook his head.

“Look. Just – go sit in the RV. I have a lot of shit to think about. And I want to do it alone.”

Frank hesitated, unsure how much he could push Damon right now, but knowing if there was ever a time to do it, it was now.

“You don’t have to do it alone. _I’m_ here.”

Damon looked down at the ground and hesitated, then slowly turned around.

“No, I … I do. Leave.”

 

Frank didn’t know what to do, but he felt like Damon was falling away from him, and he wasn’t able to catch him.

Maybe he just needed his time to think.

With a defeated sigh, Frank rubbed at his forehead and slowly walked back into the RV, wondering about everything.

He risked his life, and yet even then, Damon still was so cold and impersonal.

Was that really a strength?

It felt increasingly like a weakness.

 

Damon sniffled a little when Frank was finally gone, feeling freed to show some vulnerability.

All those dogs …

Damon could just imagine their suffering as they burned to death, and how much they relied on him to save them, and how much his own stupid judgement to not move resulted in this.

Fuck.

He tossed his beer can out into the ocean and let the cigarette drop wherever.

And after he vented some frustration by kicking at the dirt and shouting briefly, angrily out to the sea … something changed, in him, deep and guttural.

Fuck this.

He pulled out his phone and dialed up a certain number, even if he bounced to voice mail.

 

“I’m changing the terms of our deal. Call me back. _Now_.”

 

At first, playing keep away with Sera felt like thuggish bullshit beneath him, and he just let Frank take care of it, but he now realized he could conveniently get some of their money problems solved by squeezing his mysterious benefactor a bit more.

Maybe have some fun with her in the process.

 

Not like anyone would miss her if she just disappeared, either.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe is Rachel's girlfriend.
> 
> It's pretty much the best thing ever.
> 
> After a perfect start to her morning, she talks with James and Rose about Sera.
> 
> After school, she and Rachel talk to Frank about Sera.
> 
> They discover something they'll wish they hadn't.

Chloe woke up very slowly.

She technically woke up like 15 minutes ago, but upon lazily opening an eye and seeing the half-naked Rachel just there, cuddled into her side, feeling all of her warmth and comfort, she kinda didn’t want to move an inch or go anywhere else.

So she didn’t.

She just closed her eyes and half-slept half-rested with vague and varying amounts of consciousness until she felt Rachel stir a little.

Then, and only then, did Chloe look over to Rachel, and smile gently down at her, barely even opening her eyes.

Rachel smiled right back up, feeling similarly lazy.

Last night … changed a lot of things.

Being so brutally honest with each other conveniently cleared up most doubt either had about what they were and where their relationship was going – they were definitely in one, it was definitely romantic, and they both wanted to kiss each other, when the time was right.

Rachel had been entrusted with as much private and personal information as Chloe had been, and now, Chloe couldn’t even say she’d trust Max more than Rachel, were she to suddenly come back one day somehow some way.

What’s more, the almost-nudity and extreme intimacy only felt comforting and relaxing and natural – no part of this caused either anxiety or worry.

To think of how Chloe couldn’t even handle a flirt a few weeks ago …

There were other, worrying thoughts, about how the whole situation with Sera might turn out, but there were other, more positive and hopeful thoughts, too.

A future with them together, exploring the world, starting with LA.

Max never gave Chloe a future, like that – and maybe that’s just because they were so young when they knew each other, but …

Chloe thought this might be what moving on felt like.

Acceptance.

Max was gone and probably never coming back, but that was okay, since Chloe had Rachel now.

And she did feel a little guilty about letting that part of herself go, but she also felt kinda good – freed.

Chloe had spent so, so long quietly suffering and falling apart, and now – things were looking up.

Her life had a direction finally.

There was meaning.

Even if Rachel wasn’t the most perfect woman in the world, she was _Chloe’s_ woman, and she was trying to do better, just for her.

Because she cared.

Because she wanted to.

In the intervening moments Chloe had closed her eyes again, but when she opened them once more she only saw that Rachel had just been staring at her, all moon-eyed, while all of those thoughts clicked through.

And … of course she was.

Chloe heard her last night – Rachel thought she was beautiful.

It was hard to think of anyone finding her like that, but … it put a smirk on her face, finally.

Long-buried parts of Chloe felt resurfaced, all of the sudden – maybe they never truly left her, but they were never fully free, either.

“Staring? I know, I’m kinda hot …”

Confidence.

That’s what this was.

Chloe finally felt confident when someone like Rachel validated her and believed in her.

Rachel just returned Chloe’s playfulness both in expression and tone.

“Noticed, did you? Mmmm, there’s so much to stare at …”

Rachel quite meaningfully moved one of her hands to rub at Chloe’s exposed belly, suggestively moving up towards her bra and down towards her panties, but never quite making contact – just teasing.

Chloe just made an amused exhale and laid flat on the bed before turning onto her side so that they were facing each other and lowering herself down a bit so their faces were close again.

The urge to kiss was there, but Chloe held herself back, since their first was supposed to be magical, and separate from all of the drama in the background.

This urge was less strong than last night, anyway – Chloe just wanted to give Rachel a quick peck on the lips instead of something super affectionate and romantic.

Eventually, she compromised by kissing Rachel’s forehead and then rubbing her own against her briefly but affectionately, and the two closed their eyes, sighing contently and happily.

This was just nice.

Their hands came to stroke at each other’s sides before they found their counterpart and the fingers intermingled and intertwined and just rested down on their legs, fingers idly rubbing at each other in whatever lazy manner they could.

But – despite basically all of last night, there was just this tiny twinge of doubt.

After a few seconds, Chloe opened her eyes and bit her own lip.

“Hey, Rach?”

Rachel made a lazy questioning sound, not even opening her eyes.

Chloe continued.

“Are we um, girlfriends now?”

Rachel scoffed in amusement and opened her eyes, smiling so wide and dreamily.

“What do you think, dummy?”

Chloe frowned but it was more playful than serious.

“Um, yes?”

Rachel nodded gently and just sighed slowly again.

“Try ‘hella yes’.”

They both smiled again, though Rachel’s face slowly got more serious.

“After last night … there’s no one else I’d want to be with, Chloe.”

Chloe smiled genuinely, but then it turned wry.

“I knew that. I was just checking to make sure _you_ knew that.”

Rachel laughed just as genuinely and lazily shook her head.

“You dork.”

Chloe huffed,

“Nu-uh! You’re the dork! Lookit all these posters!”

Rachel giggled and calmed herself down.

“That’s just what a dork would say.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, but Rachel kept staring, no less affectionately than earlier, and soon broke her hand away from Chloe’s to raise it up to Chloe’s cheek and gently stroke there.

“Besides, it’s not a bad thing, since … you’re _my_ dork.”

Chloe closed her eyes and just sighed happily, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, like she was the world’s largest soda can, and Rachel just gave her a good shake.

Fuck that felt nice to hear.

This was really a thing now, wasn’t it?

Before Chloe even knew what she was doing her arms were around Rachel, hugging her tightly, possessively again, and it was the kind of grasp Rachel learned she really fucking liked as well, and enjoyed just melting into Chloe’s front as she squeezed the life out of her so lovingly.

This was something she could just – do, now, whenever she wanted, whoever was around.

Even Rachel’s parents didn’t seem to mind – and the thought was so freeing.

Rachel was her girlfriend.

Rachel was her girlfriend.

 _Rachel_ was her _girlfriend._

Chloe wasn’t going to stop smiling for weeks at this rate.

 

After a few moments of being lovingly squeezed, an alarm went off on Rachel’s nightstand and she groaned, at first trying to get out of Chloe’s grasp but finding she had no plans to let her go, even to turn off the annoying sound.

“Ever going to let me go, dummy?”

Chloe kept her eyes closed and just hummed flatly.

“Survey says … no.”

Rachel giggled and decided to deploy something else – instead roaming her hands under Chloe’s arms, looking for ticklish spots particularly near her armpits and – score.

She found a few and the giggling, squirming Chloe had no choice but to relent and let her go, so Rachel could finally get up and shut the alarm off.

Afterwards, Chloe just groaned, getting up to sit on the edge of the bed, and very obviously looking more at Rachel’s body than her face.

But that was fine.

She could stare all she wanted.

“No fair.”

Rachel just shrugged.

“Plenty fair.”

Chloe frowned.

“Says who?”

Rachel crossed her arms and smiled.

“Says me.”

Chloe looked down and hummed thoughtfully.

“Oh. That’s a pretty good person. I like her.”

Rachel just giggled and couldn’t help but to spend a few moments briefly rubbing at Chloe’s shoulders, just affectionately, even if they had to actually wake up now and start getting ready.

“I swear you’re the cutest sometimes …”

Chloe giggled, too, and looked up gently at Rachel.

“Nu-uh. You are.”

Rachel sighed, so endeared, and wished it wasn’t a school day so they could just sit and flirt and giggle for however long as they wanted to but –

Unfortunately, no.

Rachel pulled away with a small headshake and started to walk towards her closet.

“Noted for consideration, Price. Now, since you’re my _girlfriend_ –“

Rachel made it to her closet, opened it, and started fussing around inside,

“- I want you to start dressing a lil’ differently. For me.”

When Rachel came out of the closet she came with some clothes that looked much nicer than anything Chloe owned, and probably more expensive – some distressed skinny jeans, and some small band shirt of one of the many bands they had in common.

Chloe hummed appreciatively, though was less sure on the jeans.

Hers were always loose and baggy and comfortable, and these looked – not.

She picked them up.

“Skinny jeans? Really?”

She looked incredulously at Rachel, who just smiled innocently.

“Are you going to make me stare at those baggy things all day long or give me something good to look at?”

Chloe blinked.

Well, when she framed it like that … she giggled a little and put the jeans back down.

“Alright, alright. Just for my _girlfriend_.”

Rachel smiled contently and went back to her closet to choose some clothes for herself.

While Chloe stared at her, a thought clicked – and a flirt came to mind that was way, way too direct for the Chloe of yesterday.

But the Chloe of today …

She got up and walked over to behind Rachel, surprising her with a from-behind hugging squeeze which even came with a small lift up before Chloe put her back down and rested her chin on Rachel’s shoulder.

“Hey.”

Rachel just barely turned her face to look at Chloe, even if this mostly just shoved hair into her face,

“Hey.”

Chloe shook her head a little.

“You know … I think I’d like it better if you just stared at me … _without_ them … for a bit longer.”

Rachel looked forward, back to her clothes, and sighed contently.

“I think I would like that better, too …”

Chloe wasn’t quite done, though, and her hands went from Rachel’s belly down to her outer thighs, stroking up and down meaningfully, suggestively.

“Or – maybe even … less?”

Rachel blinked.

Did Chloe just offer to get naked around her?

That would be … fun.

The immediate thought was pretty exciting, but unfortunately impractical; if Chloe was going to get naked, Rachel wanted to cherish it, and probably get naked herself, but they were short on time right now.

Rachel smirked herself.

“Oooh. Even _less_ , huh? I’ll definitely have to take you up on that. But – later.”

Chloe kind of whined at this which was endearing so Rachel turned around to give her a brief but affectionate hug before she finished picking out her clothes.

Chloe just stayed there, hugging and rubbing at whatever she wanted to, and Rachel didn’t want her anywhere else.

Eventually, they made it back to the bed, and a thought clicked in Rachel’s mind.

They needed to shower, and Chloe just offered to be naked, so – they could save time and shower _together_.

They would have plenty of time to observe and touch wherever they wanted to …

The idea was suddenly quite exciting to Rachel.

She was going to see and touch her naked girlfriend.

How could a day start any better?

When Rachel put her clothes down on the bed and Chloe was behind her again, Rachel turned around and placed her hands on Chloe’s shoulders, just looking up at her with a wry smile.

 

“Y’know what? Screw it. Let’s go in the shower together. I want to see every inch of my beautiful girlfriend’s body.”

 

Rachel watched as Chloe’s expression went from a pretty content and happy thing to something more surprised, then a little blushy and giggly, which Rachel was only too happy to return.

Of course, Chloe didn’t refuse, and the more Rachel thought about it, the more awesome the idea was.

A naked Chloe.

Something she could have whenever she wanted, now.

Fuck.

They didn’t need to wait much longer after that, quickly walking towards Rachel’s door and exiting her room.

 

Only, just when her door closed, someone’s voice boomed up from downstairs.

“Rachel, Chloe! Breakfast’s ready!”

James.

Rachel frowned and stopped dead in her tracks.

Chloe, regrettably, understood what hearing her dad’s voice probably just did to her mood, and … damnit.

She got in front of her and of course, Rachel was frowning now, looking more sober and serious.

Chloe sighed and Rachel just crossed her arms.

For a few moments, they communicated without words – first eyes meeting, and Rachel’s expression lightening slightly, then Chloe’s hand coming to Rachel’s shoulder to rub affirmingly – and then an obvious gesture towards the door leading to the bathroom, with an eyebrow raised suggestively.

And Rachel really wanted to – really really wanted to, since it would be so fucking awesome and exciting, but she was stuck thinking about her dad, and her mom, and all the bullshit there, so even if it took her a few seconds of really painful thought, she slowly uncrossed her arms and shook her head.

She just didn’t want this perfect moment ruined by the bullshit family drama.

“No – sorry, Chloe. I just – I can’t. You know.”

The good thing about their relationship now is Rachel didn’t even feel the need to elaborate past that – because Chloe knew exactly what was going on in her mind, right now.

And that would have been enough for the old Chloe – but this new girlfriend Chloe came with some surprises: Chloe whiiiiiiined and tilted her head to the side a bit, slumping a little and giving Rachel the most obvious puppy-dog eyes.

 _That_ was unfair, fuck.

Rachel just couldn’t say _no_ to that face.

Smiling without even realizing it, Rachel slowly shook her head again.

“ _Now_ who’s being unfair. Look, just – we’ll do it next time, okay? Probably at your place.”

Both of their expressions evened out, but Rachel found herself smiling again.

“You know I really want to. I get all giggly just thinking about it.”

Chloe sighed, but nodded, and smiled herself.

“Yeah, okay, okay. Your loss.”

Rachel rolled her eyes.

“Don’t I know that. Now skedaddle.”

 

Chloe went off to shower, and Rachel sighed and went back into her room to just think about things.

Hopefully this bullshit with her mom would get all sorted soon, so all Rachel would have to think about is Chloe and school.

Instead of getting lost thinking about the miserable prick that was her dad, she instead fantasized about that time, and it was going to be coming up so soon, now … and it’d be so care free …

 

Eventually, Chloe returned, and after one more warm embrace and short series of quick flirts, Rachel left to shower herself, telling her not to wait up before going down for breakfast, since Rachel’s hair needed like another 10 minutes after the shower to blow dry and comb.

Chloe never really thought about the practical consequences of longer hair anymore.

She dressed in the clothes Rachel picked out for her with the small exception of taking her denim jacket from her old outfit – since it was her dad’s, and therefore a precious keepsake – before leaving down to go downstairs and eat.

Somehow, she just wasn’t all that hungry with Rachel around this morning, but now, it felt like she could empty the entire kitchen.

Though seeing James and Rose in the kitchen did cause an unexpected mood shift for herself.

They were close together, basically snuggling in similar ways as Chloe did to Rachel, though separated when they heard Chloe walk towards them.

Rose kept fussing with her pan, probably finishing up cooking something, while James walked towards Chloe with a newspaper in hand.

At least this time, Chloe’s clothes felt appropriately nice for the environment – she was pretty sure these jeans were even brand name – and she just felt more comfortable knowing that Rachel considered her her girlfriend.

James and Chloe met somewhere in the middle.

“Good morning, Chloe.”

Chloe offered a simple ‘good morning’ before James hesitated a bit, and conspiratorially looked back to Rose before back to Chloe,

“Is Rachel feeling any, better?”

Chloe sighed and shrugged.

“As good as she can. That’s what I’m here for.”

It almost felt surreal to Chloe how flat and matter-of-fact that came out, but no part of it was wrong.

Chloe was pretty essential to Rachel’s happiness and mood, which was a weirdly empowering feeling.

James’ expression fell and he sighed himself.

“I see.”

He then tried to smile, but it still felt so forced to Chloe.

“I guess it’s a good thing you’re around, then.”

Chloe just crossed her arms and shrugged,

“Guess so.”

With that, James quietly walked past her to sit in his chair in the living room again.

Chloe watched him go, considering.

She smelled bacon, and boy did she want some bacon right now …

But if she started eating, Rachel would probably come down before she finished, which meant any conversation with James couldn’t be about Sera.

Fuck.

Whatever.

This would probably be quick – or so she hoped, anyway.

Chloe uncrossed her arms and walked over to stand in front of James.

He lowered his newspaper and frowned for just a second before evening out his expression.

“Something I can help you with?”

Chloe nodded.

“You can tell me more about Sera.”

James blinked.

“I … suppose I could, but I’d rather wait for Rachel –“

Chloe just shook her head.

“- She’s not talking to you about this anytime soon. Trust me.”

James blinked again.

“Trust _you_? But I –“

Chloe frowned.

“- Dude, I’m her girlfriend. I know what she thinks. This is your only chance to get anything through to her, for at least a while.”

 James frowned himself, clearly considering, but then sighed pretty wearily and deeply.

“Fine, fine … take a seat.”

Chloe shook her head.

“I prefer to stand.”

James just blinked up at her but folded up his newspaper anyway, crossing a leg over and placing one of his hands on it.

“Right. Well.”

He looked from the newspaper to her,

“What do you want to know about her?”

Chloe shrugged, evening out her expression.

“What do _you_ want _Rachel_ to know about her?”

James hummed flatly.

“Touché. Well …”

He thought about it for a few moments,

“… I’d want to her to know that Sera is not good for her. She never was, and she never will be.”

He frowned and leaned forward a bit,

“Listen I – I don’t know if your parents have ever told you about watching out for certain types of girls.”

Chloe blinked.

“Certain types of girls?”

James nodded.

“There’s one type in particular to be the most suspicious of.”

He sighed wearily, leaning back more in his seat and placing his hands on the armrests of his chair with his legs coming straight down.

“The pretty, popular girl that can take your breath away and lead you on crazy adventures.”

Chloe blinked again.

That sounded … pretty familiar, actually.

“Is that what Sera is?”

James nodded.

“Quite. I met her in high school and I _swore_ she was my everything. I _thought_ I was going to be spending the rest of my life with her and – maybe I would have. If we didn’t have Rachel.”

Chloe crossed her arms.

“You said she wasn’t a great mother.”

James hummed flatly.

“To put it mildly, yes. The thing about women like that is they don’t like to be tied down – but that’s not wisdom I gained until we had a child and she started … changing.”

Chloe blinked.

“Changing?”

James just shook his head and sighed wistfully.

“For the worse. Sera is … an amazing, capable woman, but she’s impossible to tame. I thought her love for me and her daughter would steady her … less-than-perfect habits, but instead, she just turned to them and embraced them.”

It was getting harder and harder not to draw comparisons between Sera and Rachel – that thought of being able to steady Rachel if only she tried hard enough and Rachel cared enough was … too close to home.

Chloe just stayed quiet in consideration while James continued, though he looked down.

“I’m not proud to say I dated a drug addict. But I thought she would get better for me. She swore she would.”

He shook his head with another weary, regretful sigh, and looked back up to Chloe.

“But I guess that’s young love for you. Blind, passionate devotion, without observation of the facts.”

Owch.

Chloe felt herself frowning a bit, not sure if he intentionally phrased that in a way to be insulting or was just reminiscing.

James seemed to realize at her frowning that his wording was imprecise, and he grunted.

“Not that I’m saying whatever is going on between you and my daughter is like that. Rachel is a perfect daughter. She’s nothing like Sera. I’m sure her decision for you is thoughtful and informed.”

Chloe hummed flatly.

She wasn’t sure how much she believed Rachel being nothing like Sera, though Chloe was probably trusted to more vulnerable sides than James had seen by now, which was a pretty weird thought.

“Is that why you don’t want Sera to meet her?”

James nodded again.

“Yes, exactly. Because of our careful raising of Rachel, she’s been without the awful influence of her birth mother. She’s lived such a charmed life and the results speak for themselves.”

He frowned.

“Sera would undo all of that. All of my hard work. In one fell swoop, even.”

Chloe frowned herself.

“She can’t be that bad.”

James scoffed.

“She _is_ that bad.”

He crossed his arms and seemed to hesitate, considering.

“You want to know what tipped me over the edge and convinced me Sera would never be a good mother? It’s not easy to hear.”

 Chloe shrugged.

“My skin’s thick.”

James raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“Very well. Some years ago now I came home late from work to find Rachel bawling her eyes out, screaming in need – she was no more than a year old at this point, so totally helpless – and I see Sera, not ten feet away from her, tripping her _mind_ off on some awful opiates, completely uncaring.”

Chloe blinked and went deathly silent.

Holy shit.

Eventually, when the silence was kinda awkward,

“That sounds … _awful_. I can’t even imagine that.”

James closed his eyes and breathed in deep.

“It _was_ awful. All she had done all day long was shoot up and get high. She didn’t even feed Rachel once, or ever pat her or comfort her. She just couldn’t handle taking care of Rachel and, well, needed to escape.”

After that poignant thought, James slowly opened his eyes and looked very seriously at Chloe.

“That’s the kind of ideas you don’t want instilled in children. Rose and I raised her differently. She learned a work ethic, she learned how to be a functioning adult – she will never become another Sera.”

He uncrossed his arms.

“So long as Sera stays away from her. And that’s worth _anything_ to me.”

Chloe considered James’ point of view.

There was the instinctual awful gut feeling of thinking about Rachel being abused like that which wasn’t easy to tease apart; if Sera really did abuse Rachel like that it would make sense why he wanted to keep Rachel from her, especially if he thought she would be a bad influence, just …

Something about it kept rubbing Chloe the wrong way.

Maybe it was the instinctual feeling that if Rachel ever did that, Chloe would know something had broken down, and Rachel no longer trusted her with what was tearing her apart – so maybe James was never as close to Sera as Chloe was to Rachel.

Or maybe it was the unsettling feeling that Sera wanting to ‘escape’ sounded an awful lot like Rachel’s LA plans, and how it might result similarly if they got stuck there, or something. Or _here_ , even.

Whatever it was, Chloe had been thinking and not talking for long enough.

Even if Sera did this, Chloe felt like it wouldn’t fully discourage Rachel from wanting to see her, which meant James still had some questions to answer.

“So – what? You just wanted to hide everything from Rachel forever?”

James sighed.

“Not forever. Just … until she had finished growing into the wonderful woman I know she will be. When she could handle this conversation maturely and – not, be like … _that_. It’s very hard for a child her age to hear something like this, you know.”

Chloe scoffed.

“You’re telling me.”

Hard not to remember how hurt Rachel was last night.

Still, she wasn’t done, and frowned a bit,

“I still don’t think you should have kept it from her.”

James shook his head.

“With the gift of hindsight, maybe not.”

He picked up his paper again,

“But you don’t always get to make easy, clear decisions, Chloe.”

He unfolded it and started reading it again.

“When you get out of high school, you’ll know. Sometimes a little white lie or lie of omission is the best you can do to avoid really hurting someone.”

Chloe sighed.

How little did she want to get talked down to like that, like she didn’t know anything just because she was a teenager, and besides, that body language was pretty unsubtle – he probably saw he wasn’t going to convince her.

Whatever.

At least Chloe had the story now, if Rachel ever wanted to hear it.

Still, there were lingering doubts about the obvious comparisons between Rachel and Sera, even if James didn’t think so.

Chloe certainly took a lot after her parents – if her mother was any judge, anyway.

Is that what Rachel would be like in some years, if they moved out and ever decided to have kids … ?

Ugh.

Kids.

Chloe shook her head free of that thought, and instead walked over to Rose.

That bacon smelled good.

Focus.

Rose noticed Chloe a bit too late, mostly focusing on the pan and cooking.

“Oh. Good morning, sweetie. My wonderful husband has told me everything that happened yesterday … including how close you are to my daughter.”

Chloe sighed.

Well, that was convenient, at least.

“Yeah, good morning. Why’d you two keep Sera from Rachel?”

Rose sighed pretty heavily at that and shook her head, though still mostly looking at the pan.

“How would _you_ feel if you discovered your birth mother was some awful drug addict who abused you and left you to die? Probably not very well. It was just … better, this way.”

Chloe frowned.

“Rachel certainly doesn’t think so.”

Rose nodded.

“Rachel is fifteen years old and still growing up, as you are. She will appreciate our efforts in hindsight when she’s older, I’m sure.”

There it was again.

Condescending.

This earned the first proper look back from Rose, her expression somewhat serious, though it turned pained and sour.

“I just … feel so sorry for her. I can’t even imagine what she must be going through. It’s not very fair when life deals you a card like that you just … don’t deserve.”

She went back to cooking, transferring stuff from a pan to start plating it,

“But I don’t regret keeping this from her, even with some of the pain now. I only wish James got it out of his head to see that … _awful_ , vile temptress, so everything would still be fine, and my poor daughter wouldn’t be hurting so dreadfully.”

Chloe blinked.

“You knew about that?”

Rose hesitated, then looked back to Chloe seriously for the second time.

“Yes. But that’s personal between my husband and I.”

She turned around fully now, with a plate full of bacon and eggs,

“Now, please, take this, eat, and put this sordid business in the past, where it belongs.”

She smiled innocently.

“This household is a happy one. We hope to keep it like that.”

Chloe didn’t have the heart to tell her just how betrayed Rachel felt, and just politely took the food to eat with a smile, since she had done enough talking for now, and wanted to think.

Sera abusing Rachel that badly started to make James’ opposition make sense, but the deceptions and the games still felt like a transgression – couldn’t he have just told her earlier?

But when?

At what point _could_ he have told Rachel without her getting all upset like this?

He certainly couldn’t tell her when she was that young and telling her now just backfired because he hadn’t already told her – sort of a lose-lose proposition.

But for some reason, Chloe just couldn’t dismiss Rachel’s point of view and reasoning on all of this – and it still felt like she should have been told.

Just, like, on a gut level, and her gut was surprisingly difficult to convince otherwise.

Rachel deserved to know.

Just like she deserved to talk to Sera, awful history or no.

Fuck.

Chloe didn’t even bring that up – a meeting – and that was kinda the whole reason she thought to talk to him.

It just felt weird to ask right after he told her about the abuse like – yeah yeah yeah whatever.

But it seemed kind of a foregone conclusion that he wouldn’t ever agree to arrange a meeting with what he told Chloe – he was very clear he saw the separation as a necessity for Rachel’s upbringing.

Chloe just couldn’t imagine Rachel never meeting her now that she knew about her, though …

Ugh.

Maybe Frank would be of more help – especially if he knew that this was Rachel’s mother they were dealing with.

Or maybe not, and Damon’s influence only became more pronounced.

Ugh.

Still, Chloe couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was some sort of lie about her past that her mother was keeping from her, or something.

Did she really know who her father was?

Did she really know who Max was?

If James had died the same time William did, Rachel would never be any the wiser, and probably think him as perfect as Chloe did to William.

Would Joyce ever have the heart to tell Chloe something bad about her dad if she knew she still cared about him so much?

Fuck.

Chloe decided she really didn’t want to think about this bullshit – and had new-found appreciation for how awful these thoughts must be for Rachel – so she put it all out of her mind by focusing on the food and replaying this morning’s events in her mind again and again.

 

Rachel was her girlfriend.

It made Chloe smile and just relax, even in this awful, unfamiliar surrounding.

Eventually, all of Rachel, James, and Rose came to eat at the dinner table with Chloe.

Rachel still hadn’t put her hair in a tie, instead meticulously drying it and combing it until it looked perfect again.

This breakfast was easier than dinner – mostly because everyone was aware of the family drama and handled it delicately – with James even going so far so as to mostly talk to Rachel through Chloe, indirectly.

But mostly, it was just quiet and uneventful, which was maybe the best possible outcome, anyway.

Despite the offer to drive them, Rachel insisted they just skateboard, which Chloe was fine with, since she almost never got driven to school anyway.

It also meant a long, quiet period where she could just … look, and stare at Rachel, and vice versa, so that was nice.

 

They left, holding hands, which was also nice.

 

The school day went by as uneventfulfly – they hugged and kissed at each other’s cheeks before separating, and mostly just stayed in contact via texting, which Rachel was interested in doing quite a lot in general, but especially today in particular.

Chloe’s new look earned some stares and she knew some gossip, probably, especially since it all belonged to Rachel, though Chloe’s social circle didn’t really contain any gossipers for her to know _for sure_.

Justin and Trevor asked, of course, and were given a flat answer that yes Rachel was her girlfriend now, and that felt good to say, even if Trevor groaned and had to hand over a five dollar bill to Justin – apparently they were making bets on how long it would take.

Chloe wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

Victoria also wanted to gossip, but fuck Victoria – as soon as she tried to talk to Chloe, all she got was a shove and a flat warning to never fuck with Rachel again, which shut her up in a quick hurry, but Victoria deserved worse, and Chloe didn’t care if it got her in trouble, anymore.

She was even starting to reconsider Rachel just letting Victoria win, here – like, fuck her – and not in the good way.

A conversation for later, maybe.

Rachel deserved to be in that play, to feel good, to show everyone how awesome and special she was, and Victoria didn’t deserve to win out just by being a little cockroach that overheard something.

Sure, the gossip would suck, but Rachel had Chloe now, like she said, fuck all these haters and liars.

The only person Rachel needed anymore was Chloe, and that thought process was impossibly intoxicating.

Much later, Steph texted her some congratulations, saying they made a cute couple which Chloe just felt good about.

Steph was cool.

She was probably going to be useful again in the future in case Chloe had more girl problems.

The school day came and went without further incident or random meet-me-in-the-bathrooms by Rachel, and soon Chloe and Rachel met up after school.

Frank was in the junkyard again, an unsurprising place for him to be, and that wasn’t too far from here.

Still, as they skateboarded their way there, Chloe had to wonder – did Rachel really want to meet her mother, and find out about all of the awful things she did?

Would she somehow feel better knowing the truth instead of just knowing enough?

She _deserved_ to know it, but maybe it wasn’t the best option … like James thought.

No – Chloe shook her head a little as the thought came – Chloe wasn’t going to act like James here.

 

Instead of deciding _for_ her, she was going to decide _with_ her.

 

Something he should have done.

As they made it to the junkyard, Chloe suddenly put her hand on Rachel’s shoulder and stopped.

They turned to face each other with Chloe’s face all serious and Rachel’s light.

“What’s up, silly buns?”

And her tone so playful.

Chloe couldn’t help a small smile and looked down briefly, as if to purge the sight of Rachel being so carefree from her mind, in case she ruined it again with a serious topic.

When she looked back up, her smile went away, and Rachel seemed to automatically understand this was another Serious Talk, so her smile did too, her posture shifting slightly so that her arms were crossed.

Chloe eventually spoke.

“What if … there’s even more bullshit about your mother you don’t know about? And us keep pushing just – makes it all worse, again?”

Rachel blinked.

“What do you mean?”

Chloe just shook her head, gesticulating with a hand thoughtlessly,

“Like – if we just left shit as it was, we would never know that Sera was your birth mother. We would never know she did drugs – what if there’s even more dark shit that we find out about, and you start to feel even worse?”

Rachel considered this for a few seconds and looked down thoughtfully.

“Then there’s even more dark shit that we find out about and I start to feel worse.”

She looked back up, looking quite serious, and Chloe frowned before sighing.

“Rachel …”

Rachel shook her head.

“Chloe. I’m sure I – don’t know everything.”

She sighed wearily,

“If my dad kept it from me he probably had his reasons …”

But then she frowned,

“… but he doesn’t get to decide who is in my life or not. _I_ need to know. _I_ need to choose who I consider family. Not him. Not anyone else.”

Chloe found this more-or-less convincing and agreeable, and it was even along lines she was thinking about earlier – unsurprisingly, they had had similar thought waves.

She nodded.

“Yeah. I thought about that, too. Just … making sure.”

Rachel smiled pleasantly and moved forward to hug Chloe extra tight and place a little kiss on her neck or cheek or whatever.

“I know. And I will never get tired of saying I appreciate you being here, Chloe. Everything will work out so long as you’re here – I just know it.”

Chloe smiled – quite appreciating the new addition to the ‘I appreciate you’ spiel, quickly wrapping her arms around to return the squeeze lovingly.

When they eventually separated, they walked holding hands again, and Chloe really liked doing that.

Rachel probably did, too, especially since Chloe kept spying little glances from her out of the corner of her eye.

It was pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

 

As they knocked on the RV’s door, another adorable thing came out when it was opened – a little puppy, Frank’s puppy – Pompidou.

Chloe pretty much lost her trail of thought to see the little pudgy guy awkwardly flop down the stairs and out to yip excitedly up at them, immediately going all ‘awww’ and picking him up without question.

“Ey, ey, ey! C’mon you …”

Frank was clearly a little agitated but stopped at the threshold leading out to the RV and just sighed, calming himself down at the sight of puppy Pompidou licking Chloe’s cheek as she giggled.

He even smiled a little, since, how do you not.

“… alright, whatever. Hey kids.”

Rachel couldn’t help but have a little bit of fun with the puppy either, though Chloe was a little surprised Pompidou took to her so quickly – he already knew Chloe, but not Rachel.

Chloe eventually gave Pompi back as he wanted back down again – probably to return to his master, and Frank spent a moment putting the dog back up off the steps before leaving his RV and closing the door behind him.

He then breathed in deep and shook his head.

“Let me guess. More weed?”

Chloe and Rachel exchanged a wordless look before eyeing Frank.

Rachel automatically trusted Chloe to talk to Frank about this, without any consideration or thought, since she had handled it last time pretty well, and Rachel had no obvious leverage to use anymore or anything.

So Chloe continued.

“I wish. Today’s more bullshit family drama.”

Frank groaned and crossed his arms.

“Again? Don’t tell me it’s more Sera crap. I already told you way too much.”

Chloe nodded, crossing her own arms in an automatic mirroring gesture,

“Yeah, well, that ‘too much’ was exactly what we needed to pry for more information from Rachel’s family.”

Frank blinked.

Chloe uncrossed her arms, briefly looking to Rachel but feeling confident enough to share this and looked back to Frank.

“Frank. Sera is Rachel’s birth mother.”

Frank blinked only about a hundred times, soon uncrossing his arms and just staring at Chloe.

“Wow. Ain’t that a bitch.”

He looked over to Rachel more thoughtfully, though, and Chloe kind of scoffed, amused.

Rachel didn’t feel amazing about that getting out, but she completely trusted Chloe with that information, and knew she was revealing it for a particular reason here – and if it meant getting a conversation with Sera, well … Frank could know whatever the fuck he wanted to.

Chloe continued.

“Yeah. Ain’t that a bitch, exactly. So … we need to see her, and we need you to make that happen.”

Frank, still processing the information poorly, looked over to Chloe and frowned, crossing his arms again.

“Chloe. I told you I washed my hands clean of this shit. I can’t do that – I don’t even know -”

Chloe frowned herself.

All she had to do was use their words against them, sometimes.

“You can’t just clap your hands and say ‘whoops, never met her’, Frank.”

She gesticulated in slight annoyance, and that’s where her tone was going.

“And there’s no one else but you who can talk to Damon _to_ know about this shit.”

Frank stayed quiet, clearly considering, while Rachel looked over to Chloe, finding her new-found attitude and confidence quite attractive.

Frank had pulled a _gun_ on them before and here Chloe was, talking back to him like he was a kid or something.

Frank eventually groaned and shook his head.

“Chloe. Damon _might_ know some more but like – you don’t even know, he’s really not in the mood –“

Chloe just grunted, still not giving him edge wise,

“- I don’t care if you have to get a motherfucking dragon on a _leash_ to make this happen, Frank.”

Frank blinked, caught off-guard by Chloe’s attitude, and particularly how confidently and resoundingly that came out.

He did find it endearing, though.

Chloe eventually calmed her tone down to just look at Frank hopefully.

“Please? For your friend? It’s our only chance.”

That was pretty endearing too, especially the way Chloe had her sad puppy eyes to display whenever she needed to be a little bit more convincing.

And Frank found himself relenting with a sigh.

 

“Alright – alright. I’ll see what else is going on. Gimmie a moment.”

 

As he turned around and walked back into the RV – having to stop Pompidou from flying out again – Rachel and Chloe giggled as they collided together in a hug.

“You did it! You were so awesome, Chloe …”

Rachel sighed contently and rested her head on Chloe’s chest and shoulders.

Chloe smiled.

“Yeah …?”

Rachel just gently nodded.

“Yeah. We’re going to see her. I can feel it.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

She felt even better with a giggly Rachel just melting into her like this – and this was something she could have whenever she wanted, now.

It put a big stupid grin on her face.

“Hope she’s got weed.”

Rachel laughed, but it was such an endeared thing – she just couldn’t help her excitement, even if there were momentary pangs of doubt of what else she might find out.

 

Frank soon came back out of the RV – this time without a dog trying to come with – and raised an eyebrow when he saw the two girls hugging like that, which went even higher when they both looked to him and didn’t separate.

“Well … I got some good news and I got some bad news.”

Chloe blinked.

“What’s the good news.”

Frank smiled a bit.

“I know where Sera is.”

The two gasped, but Frank raised his hands up in the universal sign for ‘stop’, and so they did, before they got ahead of themselves.

 

“The bad news is … she’s with Damon, and he’s holding her hostage until we get payment.”

 

Oh, shit.

Rachel slowly peeled herself away from Chloe, though Chloe had learned not to let Rachel do that anymore when she might get smashy-smashy, so she followed close behind, keeping her in a loose hug at all times.

Rachel had one simple word for Frank, but once again, there was just – so much in it – anger, resentment, hate, little hints of agony and sadness – even the barest of wavers.

 

“ _What_.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Rachel try to save Sera.
> 
> Sera screams.

At first, the revelation was heavy and uncertain.

Really, it took Chloe’s mind a few seconds to work through what it meant, practically speaking.

It helped that Frank had to reiterate what he just said from Rachel’s questioning.

He frowned.

“You got Chloe in your ears or something? You heard what I said. She’s being held hostage.”

Rachel frowned viscerally, and so did Chloe, whence the thoughts clicked through.

At first, there were thoughts in Chloe’s mind to stay behind Rachel and try and steady her, as she was now wont to do, but there were other thoughts that came soon thereafter, and they provided to be equally as compelling.

Frank was part of this bullshit kidnapping ring?

Would they ever see Sera again?

What if she was being hurt … ?

Before Chloe knew what she was doing she was unwrapping her arms from behind Rachel and coming to stand directly beside her, arms crossed.

“Are you shitting me? You’re a fucking kidnapper now, too?”

She scoffed.

“What’s next, Frank, murder? Robbing banks?”

Chloe uncrossed her arms to gesticulate in frustration, while Rachel crossed her own and looked over to Chloe, suddenly appreciating her anger instead of her trying to calm Rachel down, even if logically she knew being calmed down was probably the better option here.

Still.

Frank scoffed himself and shook his head,

“Don’t rope me into this shit. Like I said. Wiped my hands clean of it. This is all on Damon.”

Chloe shook her head as well.

“That’s not how it works, Frank. He’s your business partner. This shit at least makes you an accessory, and just as responsible if anything happens to her.”

Frank just shrugged.

“Cry me a river, I guess.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel blinked.

“Frank!”

It came out in near-unison, which surprised the three of them, and after Chloe and Rachel exchanging briefly amused looks, they hardened their expressions and looked back to Frank, who just raised his hands partially in surrender.

“Look, kids, I know she means more to you than me, but …”

He slowly brought his hands down and his expression became serious.

“Someone paid Damon a good whack of money to get her the hell away from here.”

He frowned.

“No clue why anyone would, but … it’s more trouble than it’s worth to see her, at this point.”

Chloe and Rachel both blinked, surprised at yet more twists and turns in the Sera saga.

Now, apparently, she was being intimidated away from here?

That really only left one culprit in their minds.

For Rachel, the conclusion was obvious and immediate and it only pissed her off more – not only was he personally doing whatever he could to keep Rachel from her, but he even hired _thugs_ to make _sure_ she would never see her?

This was inexcusable.

Unforgivable.

There was a thought, maybe, she would eventually have more sympathy for her father’s position, but this was plainly just too far.

There was never going back from this.

Chloe understood it pretty easily to be James, too, but was less worried about who made the payment, so much as she was trying to make sure Rachel could still get to see her – and that Sera would end up unharmed.

Damon was not a gentle sort of person …

Chloe and Rachel quickly stole a look at each other to communicate wordlessly – Rachel’s frustration, Chloe’s concern – before Chloe looked back to Frank, still frowning.

“We’ll decide that, Frank. We need to see her, kidnapping or no. You need to make it happen.”

Rachel nodded.

“We _need_ to. I don’t care how.”

Frank crossed his arms.

 

“You kids 'r persistent, you know that? Ugh.”

 

But, still.

As much as Frank tried to keep this out-of-sight, out-of-mind, it was hard to fully isolate it away, and the nagging thoughts and doubts were pretty hard to dismiss.

They were only paid to shake her down a bit and tell her to get lost – yet Damon went and kidnapped her to do god knows what.

Frank wasn’t even sure they’d get paid at all at that rate with how reckless he was being …

But maybe he was worrying about this for nothing.

Damon knew what he was doing, and Frank trusted him; it’s not like Damon was hiding this from him, and told him the second he asked about it.

If he went and checked whatever crap was going on with them he’d probably find she was okay and Damon was just bored out-of-his mind, and Frank might even be able to convince him to just let her go, since the client obviously wouldn’t pay more for this.

And hey, Chloe’s friend would get to see her mom, which would obviously be a good thing.

Eventually, after some obvious thought, Frank shook his head.

 

“I can’t even believe I’m considering this. Even if we go there, there’s no guarantee Damon will actually let you see her, you know that?”

 

Chloe shrugged.

“He won’t stop us.”

She looked over to Rachel with a smirk,

“Right?”

Rachel just shook her head.

“Nothing is going to get in the way of me seeing her.”

Frank laughed at this, slowly uncrossing his arms, but the two just remained resolute and firm – they were serious as a heart attack about this.

This mostly seemed like a bad idea to him, but he found himself hoping some more humanity in the situation would make Damon come around, so he wasn’t just looking at Sera like the one who left them in debt, and instead as this young girl’s mother.

Eventually, he sighed.

“Alright, alright. I don’t want you kids skateboarding all the way out there with this crazy-ass fire going, anyway.”

 

Chloe internally breathed a sigh of relief but found herself catching it anyway, since all they did was just trade in Frank, who Chloe thought she could reasonably talk to, with Damon, who … she could not.

Especially if Rachel got pissed at him …

Still – Rachel deserved to see her mother, and maybe Damon would see the wisdom in that.

Maybe Chloe was deluding herself, but she wanted to have something that allowed her to smile as she placed her hand on Rachel’s opposite shoulder and tugged her into her side again – she wanted to be that comforting rock.

And as the three of them piled into the RV, Rachel found herself sighing wearily and melting into Chloe’s side, more unconsciously than not at this point, but found optimism in a different way.

They were heading right to where Sera was, and when they got there, absolutely nothing was going to stop her from seeing her mother and finding out what it is she wanted to say.

Nothing.

She knew she could do it so long as Chloe was by her side, and the little reassuring shoulder rubs and encouraging smiles made all the difference from Rachel stewing about the new even more awful revelations about her father, and kept her focused on the more happy eventuality of seeing her birth mother.

They were really doing this.

 

Eventually, they started to drive into the forest, past some still-burning fire.

Chloe murmured.

“Where even are we going?”

Frank just shrugged.

“The Mill. Ain’t no one out there since it burned down, so. Pretty good place to hide someone.”

The Mill …

 

As they drove more and more into the forest, the fire flanking them on either side was slowly replaced with an unfortunately-familiar image to Chloe: the infinite expanse of burned, dead trees.

It even seemed like not even the sun could penetrate through this miserable death, and so the sky started to wane and give out to icky grayness the further and further they went.

 

But it really came into focus when they parked at the Mill and left the RV, particularly when the first wave of awful burnt trees hit Chloe’s nose, and the grass underneath her compressed in all the wrong, flaky ways, something that reminded her immediately and viscerally of her dream.

Worst of all, though – the Mill itself.

Now engulfed in this deathly blanket of tar and haze, only the front half of it could be made out, but what was there was unsettling – maybe half of the planks that made up its structure were simply gone, reduced to nothing more than pitiful ash at the base; the random struts of steel and non-woods charred and warped in unnatural and unsafe-looking ways; the clearly broken-into doors and broken-out-of windows, showing the panic of whomever had been inside or out.

It took the breath out of Chloe.

“Damn. It’s barely even still standing …”

Frank nodded, but then scoffed.

“You don’t even know the half of it. Damon says his dogs burned to death inside, too.”

He looked forward.

“This damn fire …”

Chloe and Rachel both blinked.

“… fuck.”

Rachel’s mood took an unexpected yet predictable shift into the more dower side of things at seeing all of this death and destruction – a thought she had been nursing ever since they left the blanket of flames behind them and entered into this morose sadness, but one given increased presence and relevance now with not just a physical structure presented ruined by her rage, but also thoughts of creatures dying because of it.

She … was responsible for this, wasn’t she?

What else did she hurt?

What other creatures did she – kill?

Was it even her fault if it was dumb magic fate gave to her?

Either way, it left her pretty pensive as they walked into the Mill, stepping over some fallen slants and inching through the broken-into doors.

They all moved slower than usual, perhaps from the mood simply being that dower, perhaps to avoid alerting Damon unnecessarily of their approach, though the building ached in familiar ways as they walked inside.

Once again, there was another moment of reverence as they entered into the main lobby, since for at least Chloe and Rachel, it was just flatly unsettling.

The memories of the Mill and how they met were deeply cherished and everything about it now was just wrong – charred remains of various things, melted bottles, destroyed structures, random support beams felled, random bits of the floor dangerously broken – not to mention the stench.

Seared flesh didn’t ease the nose very well.

Frank seemed to realize Chloe and Rachel needed a moment so he decided to walk a bit ahead of them to see where Damon had ended up setting up base.

Eventually, Chloe looked to Rachel, who was just mutely staring at their surroundings, clearly deep in thought.

She bit her lip and hesitated.

“You okay?”

Rachel thought about it some more and slowly shook her head, looking to Chloe.

“… no. I don’t think so.”

They both frowned, but Rachel broke away from Chloe – since they had habitually ended up snuggled together in some idle fashion – so she could approach the now-destroyed and decrepit bar, where they first met.

She placed her hands on its surface, though jumped when she felt some ash and soot and inelegantly shook her hands clean of it.

“This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

She looked back to Chloe.

“The dogs. The forest fire. Sera. Everything.”

Chloe made a thoughtful sound, slowly crossing her arms, before she started walking towards Rachel again.

On some level, that answer had to be 'yes', but it was more nuanced than that; Rachel was responsible, but so was Chloe, but so was Damon, but so was Sera, but so was James – and so on.

Chloe walked to her side and looked at the imprints Rachel’s touch had on the bar and could easily remember the first time they both slammed drinks right here, laughing and playing some dumb game about trying to explore the limits of each other’s musical knowledge.

Rachel watched her carefully, not entirely liking the silence in response, but finding herself similarly drawn to nostalgia of when things were simply more care-free, and the most Rachel had to worry about was whether or not Dana was going to screw up her part in the play, or something.

Eventually, Chloe uncrossed her arms and shrugged, looking off to Rachel,

“I mean … kinda.”

They exchanged a frown, and both looked forward to past memories of their time here at this bar.

“None of this would have happened without you – but.”

She looked over to Rachel with a small smile.

“That includes us. That includes us going to save Sera. That wouldn’t have happened without you, either.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully, appreciating the attempt at comfort but not sure that was the best route to take to ease her doubt.

“Yeah, sure, but …”

She finally looked back to Chloe, crossing her arms again, though finding herself just barely smiling at Chloe’s own warm smile, though the smile soon was banished as a thought completed,

“… I just, I dunno. It's scary how much I can do, sometimes ...”

She uncrossed her arms to gesture towards the entirety of the destroyed Mill, raising her arms wide on either side of her and spinning just a bit for emphasis.

Chloe looked around appropriately before looking back to Rachel, and shrugging.

“I mean – yeah. Sometimes. You do make some mistakes …”

She turned to face Rachel, and Rachel stopped spinning to do much the same.

Rachel blinked.

Chloe smiled more earnestly and gently brought one of her hands up to dust off some of the soot and ash on Rachel’s hair,

“… but you’re, well, _you_. I wouldn’t trade you for anything, Rach. Faults and all.”

Rachel smiled more genuinely at this, sighing contently and closing her eyes while she felt Chloe gently playing with her hair.

It was such a nice and relaxing feeling.

Rachel had no better answers than Chloe when it came to all of this nonsense, and similarly felt little tendrils of doubt eat away at her, but there was just something about the way Chloe smiled and spoke so earnestly about what she saw as Rachel’s shortcomings and how she still felt like it was worthwhile, anyway.

It felt real.

Earned.

Like Chloe knew what she was getting into and was still behind her every step of the way – and, of course she was.

Rachel slowly turned to look to where Frank had gotten off to.

Maybe this all was her fault, but with Chloe by her side, she knew she had a chance to still get Sera out of this bullshit.

 

“Thanks, Chloe.”

 

It came out more gentle than Rachel thought it would, and it surprised her a little, but soon she just shook her head and looked back to Chloe with a warm, genuine smile.

“I think I needed that.”

Chloe kind of smirked, slightly tilting her head to the side in a way that registered as slightly smug, slightly playful, but mostly just warm.

“Of course you did. What would you even do without me?”

Rachel laughed genuinely, shaking her head some more, playfully shoving Chloe and starting to walk to where she thought Frank had gone off to.

“You _dork_.”

Chloe just giggled and rolled with the shove, following right behind her.

“ _Your_ dork.”

Rachel smiled and sighed dreamily.

“Yeah … my dork.”

 

They ended up going – where else – but to the center of the Mill, where Firewalk had played all that time ago.

Even though it was only mere weeks in the past, it felt like an eternity.

What was Chloe even like before Rachel?

Or Rachel before Chloe?

It was getting harder and harder to remember – like each other was just always a part of their lives, somehow, someway.

They found a knife stabbed into one of the pillars on the way and judging by the fact it wasn’t damaged or that ashy, it had to have been a recent addition.

Maybe Frank’s, or something …

Chloe got it out with some effort, ‘just in case’ things went sideways with Damon.

 

It wasn’t long before they started to hear some voices.

“C’mon, man. She ain’t worth all this hassle.”

Frank’s, recognizably.

“This bitch runs us for thousands of dollars and you just want to let her go? The fuck has gotten into you?”

And Damon’s.

While Frank sounded even, Damon did not – noticeably, and worryingly, raised and uneven.

Chloe and Rachel exchanged a nervous look before marching forward faster, into the room.

“No. What’s gotten into _you_ , man? Even when we were running serious shit in LA you were ---”

They both noticed Chloe and Rachel at about the same time, as Chloe and Rachel noticed them.

They entered into the main room of the Mill, though it was hardly even recognizable – the stage where Firewalk played was completely leveled, reduced to various broken and burnt pieces of wood and ash; so many slants were missing from the sides of the structure and the roof the inky gray darkness outside poked through the unnatural light from a spotlight inside; then obviously, there was the trio of Damon, Frank, and Sera.

Frank was nearby Damon, who was adjacent to Sera, who was sitting down on a chair, seemingly against her will with some tape or another; they were placed center of the room, with a bright spotlight pointing at Sera – the only source of light otherwise in this depressing setting; Frank stood with his arms crossed and features serious.

Damon, meanwhile … was leaning towards Sera.

That all changed when Rachel and Chloe entered, though.

Damon and Frank looked to Chloe and Rachel, with Sera joining soon after, though she couldn’t very well see anything with the bright light in her face.

Damon stood up straight and blinked a few times before looking over to Frank.

“--- who let the fuckin Rugrats in?”

Damon turned to face Frank.

Frank looked to Damon.

 

Chloe breathed in a heavy, deep sigh.

Shit.

This was it.

Chloe noticed Rachel taking a few steps towards Sera, and so did Chloe, but –

Damon snapped to looking at them when he heard some boards beneath them creak,

“Stay the fuck back. This ain’t your business.”

Instinctually, Chloe found herself intimidated by Damon’s … everything, but her second thought was different.

This dude had some fucking nerve to kidnap people and extort them for money.

She found herself walking forward anyway, and wasn’t surprised when Rachel followed adjacent to her, their arms crossing together.

Still, before Chloe could say anything –

“This _is_ their business, man.”

All eyes were on Frank again.

Damon shoved him, but not so as to shove him away.

“The fuck you mean?”

Frank frowned.

 

“This ‘bitch who ran us for thousands of dollars’ has a daughter. And guess what? She’s right there.”

Frank nodded towards Rachel.

 

This seemed to genuinely surprise Damon, who flinched back a bit.

He opened his mouth, but -

“What?! Rachel is here? Where?!”

A new voice, then – sounding quite distraught and desperate, but there was only one candidate for whom it could belong to.

Still, despite Damon’s shock, he still didn’t hesitate to grunt in frustration, reel back towards Sera, and _smack_ her across the face.

“Shut up! _Shut up_! How many times do I have to tell you to just. Shut. Up! Ugh!”

 

Things seemed to happen all at once for Chloe past that, and she could barely keep up –

Frank took a step or two closer, “--- Damon!” –

Rachel gasped, “Get away from her!” –

Chloe felt her hands tightening around the knife and they all approached –

 

Damon stood up and pulled out his ridiculous sword-knife, turning to face vaguely the three of them.

 

“Enough fucking around. Any of yous take a step closer and we have a serious problem.”

They all froze.

For a moment, anyway.

Sera could just barely make out some shadowy figures off in the periphery and she understood them to probably be Rachel and a friend of hers, so that’s where her eyes went.

“Rachel! Get out of here! It’s not worth risking –“

Her voice was beyond pleading, but -

Damon _slammed_ his foot down on the board underneath him hard to crack it in two and turned around – carelessly slashing at some part of Sera’s face –

Chloe gasped –

Frank blinked –

Rachel couldn’t take it anymore, immediately remembering Chloe’s knife and stealing it from her while she was stunned at the sudden show of aggression, and Rachel immediately started in a run towards Damon – she had to, and if she didn’t, she was pretty sure Sera was going to end up dead.

“You son of a _bitch_! I’ll make you pay for that!”

But -

“Rachel!”

It was hard to tell which voices said this and not in the hurried cacophony of everything –

Chloe and Frank certainly were among them, though, with Chloe no longer hesitating before she took off after Rachel –

Damon turned to face Rachel, smirking.

“Yeah?”

Rachel got right up to him, probably intending to stab, but he saw it coming easily – and was far more practiced than she was.

Rachel could watch in what felt like slow motion as her stolen knife stabbed only the empty air where Damon used to be, and his own horrid knife-sword connected with herself.

 

Rachel dropped the knife, frozen, slowly looking down in horror.

 

Her eyes went wide.

She felt like she was going to hyperventilate, but her body gave out first, and she fell limply down onto the floor as Damon pulled his knife out and shoved her away.

For once, she felt so cold, and no matter what she begged her body to do, it wouldn’t respond.

 

Damon opened his mouth but, probably to taunt –

Sera _screamed_ at seeing her daughter assaulted –

Damon flinched downwards, hiding his ears with his hands.

“Fuck!”

Chloe’s heart was going a million miles an hour – like –

She had to do something.

She didn’t hesitate, this time.

She was already close to the scene, since she’d been running after Rachel, and while the immediate thought was to save her, Damon was clearly something that had to be dealt with first – but – what –

Damon was distracted from Sera’s scream – and while it was _loud_ , thankfully this was the second time Chloe had been exposed to such a thing –

Chloe suddenly saw the plank of wood Damon snapped in two earlier in his frustration, and quickly picked it up – wasting no time in running up behind him and wailing on him as hard as she could with it – which was hard enough to make it shatter and stumble him forward.

“Ugh! You --- bitch!”

Sera’s scream soon ended and Damon was only distracted for that short while after Chloe’s assault, taking a few steps forward before turning around and facing her.

Chloe looked around for something else to use –

Damon cracked his neck, grinning.

 

“I’ll admit. That hurt. Now it’s my turn.”

 

Damon started after her in a sprint –

Chloe’s eyes widened –

His stab she managed to dodge, somehow, but she was completely unprepared for one hell of a punch coming from his other, non-stabby hand.

Chloe collapsed pretty easily onto the floor with a groan, feeling dazed and doing everything she could to avoid just passing out.

It felt like she had shellshock or something and could barely even make out Damon over her, probably taunting her in some way –

Instead, her eyes just went to Rachel.

Even in her tired haze, she tried to reach out to her –

Damon stomped on her hand before kicking her hard in the gut.

 

Frank mostly watched this all transpire in shock – it all happened so fast, not even half a minute past the time Rachel went to stab Damon did he KO the both of them.

Sera was left speechless, horrified at this disastrous consequence of her actions.

Frank could see the blood on the floor and hear the pained sounds Chloe made – and they were pathetic, awful things, like her bones had shattered or something, and her pain was immeasurable.

Her groans and whimpers resonated in such an awful, unsettling manner across the Mill's destroyed halls.

And he just felt so awful, so terrible for her, wanting to do whatever he could to soothe her ache – but then he looked up to Damon.

Damon.

Damon, who was just grinning down at Chloe, seemingly enjoying kicking her again and again and hearing the sounds she made, in some sort of sadistic retaliation for her pathetic attempt to stop him.

This … wasn’t the Damon Frank knew.

This was some kind of monster.

If Frank did nothing, Chloe and Rachel were probably going to die – and god even knows what Damon would do to Sera, in this monstrous, sadistic state he was in.

Frank had to make a decision.

So he did.

Frank pulled out the gun in his waistline, quickly raised it up to the still-sadistically-distracted Damon, and pulled the trigger.

 

Bang.

 

Damon blinked, suddenly frozen, and carefully looked down to his new wound.

Right through the heart.

His eyes widened, and he stumbled forward, over Chloe’s useless body, dropping the knife somewhere nearby.

His eyes went up to Frank, who was frowning so viscerally, and the literal smoking gun he was holding upright.

Damon couldn’t believe his eyes.

Frank, out of everyone who could have betrayed him – but the thought was quickly replaced with the grim acceptance that of course Frank had; there was no better reminder just how alone he was in this world, now without even his dogs, or Frank, to keep him company.

Damon took another pathetic stumbling step or two forwards before falling onto his knees, breathing uselessly heavily, with his hands trying to cover the bleeding out of his heart, but he knew it was pointless.

And soon, his body gave up on him, and he fell to the ground.

As alone as he felt.

 

Frank slowly re-holstered his pistol and walked towards Damon’s body.

“God damn it, Damon …”

He couldn’t help some tears starting to form, nor could he help his hands coming up to hide his face.

He only got a few seconds to consider everything and recover, though, since –

“My daughter is fucking bleeding to death! Help me out of this!”

With difficulty, Frank pulled his hands down and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah …”

A sharp, demanding tongue ran in the family, it seemed.

 

Frank helped Sera out of her bondage, kicking the dumb spotlight over, and helped her carry the two injured girls back to the RV to drive it as fast as they possibly could to the hospital.

Chloe looked awful, but was barely conscious, and mumbled incoherently every so often, mostly about Rachel or Sera.

Rachel, though …

 

Rachel was unresponsive.

 

Sera worked desperately with what little medical supplies they had.

 

Frank sighed.

He hoped it wasn’t already too late.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe wakes up in the hospital.
> 
> She talks to one dick who's trying to be better, and one who isn't.
> 
> She worries about Rachel.
> 
> She cries.
> 
> But all hope is not lost; tomorrow is a new day.

Chloe woke up groaning, since she apparently was a creature of suffering, now.

Almost no part of her _didn’t_ hurt.

Opening her eyes – which somehow hurt too – let her see she was in a hospital room, in a hospital bed, in a hospital gown.

She groaned again when she saw one of her hands in some sort of cast, though that hand hurt especially a lot, so maybe that was for the best.

Fuck.

She closed her eyes and rested back on the bed, trying to remember what happened before she lost consciousness.

Damon … damn near killed her.

Damon – Rachel.

Chloe blinked her eyes open and immediately sat up, though this earned yet another pained groan and she pathetically fell back down on the bed.

Fucking ow that hurt.

It felt like someone just stabbed her in the side, or something.

 

“Try not to make any sudden movements, kid.”

 

Chloe blinked again and turned her heard to the source of the voice to see Frank just … sitting there, watching her, slightly amused with his arms crossed in some cheap-looking plastic seat.

“Damon did a real number on you. Surprised you’re up so soon.”

Chloe scoffed and shook her head.

“I’ve – been through worse. Eventually I’ll get enough punches in my card to get some free ice cream.”

Frank laughed.

“Get the shit beat out of you and you’re still cracking wise. You’re some’n else, you know that?”

Chloe sighed.

“Yeah, yeah yeah …”

She turned to face him by laying on her side,

“Never mind me. Where’s – where’s Rachel? Sera? Damon? How’d we get here?”

 Frank’s expression turned more somber.

“Rachel’s over in surgery. We’re not sure if she’ll pull through.”

Chloe blinked.

“W-what? She … she can’t – _not_.”

Frank kind of shrugged at this, sighing sadly to mimic Chloe’s suddenly distressed tone.

Chloe clearly was not taking this well – trembling, eyes widening, breathing quickening, and there was just so much in her voice, so much immediate visceral pain and worry.

Frank thought his casual introduction might ease the blow, instead he simply watched as Chloe fell apart, and it wasn’t easy.

“I know. I know. Damon stabbed to kill, though. If we had gotten her here just a few minutes later, she would have bled out and been pronounced dead on the spot.”

Fuck.

That took the breath right out of Chloe and her eyes went down, distantly looking at nothing in particular, while she processed this slowly and poorly.

She sniffled.

 

“N-no … she … no.”

 

Frank frowned and found his heart strings being tugged.

Poor Chloe.

After all this, _this_ is what she had to wake up to.

Frank inched his seat a bit closer and hesitated, but then shook his head.

Fuck it.

Chloe was his friend.

She needed him, right now.

“Hey.”

Chloe blinked and looked up to Frank again, eyes starting to get teary and red and all irritated, and it was _not_ an easy thing to look at, especially from the massive shiner she had on her face from Damon’s haymaker.

“Listen. If there’s anyone who can survive a stabbing like that, it’s Rachel. That girl has some … spirit, I tell ya.”

Chloe smiled at the reassurance, trying to find as much comfort and solace in it as she could, but it didn’t quite stop the tears.

“Y-yeah. She’s … she’s a force of nature. My. My force of nature.”

She suddenly looked quite nervous,

“I can’t lose her, F-frank. Not – no. I just … I can’t.”

Fuck was that heartbreaking to look at.

Frank couldn’t help but move his chair until it was adjacent and thought to comfort her physically but wasn’t sure if that would be welcome or not, so instead, he just placed a hand on the guard rails along the side of the hospital bed and leaned in close, making his face appropriately somber.

“You won’t, Chloe, I promise.”

Chloe tried to smile but it faltered, and she just closed her eyes with a pathetic ‘fuck’, hugging at herself miserably, but managing to put herself back together.

No part of this was easy to look at, but Frank felt like he owed Chloe, now, after being such a massive prick to her for a while.

He gave her her time to recover.

Eventually,

“You kids were brave. Stupid, but brave.”

Chloe breathed in and out heavily for a few seconds but with the weariest of sighs she looked back up to Frank and at least the tears weren’t actively spilling, anymore.

“Yeah?”

Frank nodded.

“Don’t go doing that shit again, but … yeah. I – shit.”

Frank looked away, and once again, had to fight himself about how genuine to be here, but eventually he looked back to Chloe, though his eyes went down more instead of looking directly at her, and his voice got quite soft.

“I bet … I bet your dad would have been so proud to see you standing up for Rachel like that. To know he raised a daughter that strong.”

Chloe smiled more genuinely at that, though the last thing she wanted to think of right now was her dad.

“You mean that?”

She sniffled again,

“I kinda always thought he might be … disappointed.”

Frank scoffed and his eyes went back up to Chloe.

“If he’s a pussy, maybe. But I think he would be proud. I know I am.”

Chloe closed her eyes again and absorbed Frank’s words, and they just felt – really fucking good.

It’d been like a minute since she woken up and she was already such a confusing mess of emotions, and she didn’t really know what to say in response.

It took her a few awkward seconds to manage a very awkward,

“Thanks … Frank. That … I appreciate that.”

Frank nodded and stood up, feeling a little awkward himself,

“Don’t mention it. Seriously.”

He turned and started to walk away.

“Sera and I promised each other we wouldn’t leave until we found out about Rachel. I’m going to go check up on the wonder twins.”

Chloe blinked and suddenly laid on her back again to watch Frank leave,

“W-wuh-wait, hey …”

Frank paused and looked back.

“Yeah?”

Chloe bit her lip.

“What happened? After um. I was, ‘brave’.”

Frank made an amused sound at Chloe’s mimicking, but the topic was pretty sober, so it died fast.

 

“Damon started curb stomping you and then I shot him. He’s … dead, now.”

 

Chloe blinked.

“Oh. I’m – oh.”

She knew what to say in response to _that_ even less.

Maybe death was unavoidable, in all of this mess …

Still, some part of Chloe came up with something, and it came out entirely without thought.

“Are you okay?”

Frank frowned.

“No.”

He looked forward.

“But I’ll manage.”

Chloe frowned, too.

“You don’t have to – like – deal with this on your own. I’m your friend, Frank. I know he meant a lot to you.”

Frank sighed wearily.

“I know, Chloe, I know. I just need time to process it, right now.”

He then walked to the door.

“I’ll be fine. That which doesn’t kill me just makes me stronger.”

Chloe didn’t have anything to say in response.

She just didn’t know what _to_ say.

Frank then left, and Chloe had even more confusing emotions and thoughts to deal with.

It’s not like she was _happy_ Damon was dead, even if he kinda deserved it – no one deserved to die before their time.

But maybe that was the only way out of this.

She was just happy she wasn’t the one to pull the trigger – she couldn’t even imagine what was going through Frank’s mind and how he thought about it.

She hoped he didn’t blame himself for it too much.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by James entering the room, and Chloe found herself frowning before she could help it.

Rose was there, too, quietly tucked into his side, though they seemed to be supporting each other about the same through this hard time.

Chloe could see they both had been crying, but she didn’t feel any sympathy.

Not after today.

Still, James quietly walked to the side of her bed.

“I heard you’re awake. I came to pay my respects. As my … lovely wife did.”

Chloe eyed him carefully.

“Consider them paid. Anything else?”

Her tone was pretty cold, but not hostile – just efficient, indifferent.

She simply didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

James frowned for a few moments but evened his expression out.

“Straight to business. I can respect that.”

He breathed in deep and then sighed with his eyes closed before looking at Chloe very seriously.

“I want to know how my daughter got stabbed.”

He frowned.

“Sera doesn’t want to talk to me, and, well, the feeling’s mutual. That rough-looking customer won’t give me anything, either.”

Chloe frowned some more, herself.

 

“We were saving Sera from the goons you hired to kill her. So. Yeah. Turns out that’s a little risky.”

 

James’ eyes went wide and Rose gasped, looking at him very seriously as a way to coax out some kind of explanation.

James eventually recovered from his shock, now frowning pretty harshly, though.

“I … see.”

He looked to Rose before back to Chloe,

“Well that explains things. We’ll talk about this matter as a family when Rachel recovers.”

Chloe scoffed.

“If I don’t want to talk to you she sure as fuck won’t. You fucked up, dude.”

James sighed wearily and closed his eyes, thinking for a few moments.

“With the benefit of hindsight, maybe.”

He shook his head a little,

“But you don’t always –“

Chloe grunted and half-crossed her arms, remembering to not touch her brace that much,

“- you don’t always get to make easy decisions, Chloe. I know.”

Her tone was slightly mocking, but it was more cold and efficient – she just wanted this conversation over with, and this seemed to do the trick.

“… very well.”

James looked over to Rose.

“Come, dear. We have … much to discuss.”

They left as they came.

Good riddance.

 

The day sped up for Chloe – kind of.

For hours, all she had to do was think about stuff, and eventually get her lazy ass out of the bed to take stock on just how fucked up her body was.

Moving was kind of an ordeal, but mostly because of her chest – Damon must have focused most of his effort there.

One of her hands was out of commission and constantly aching at a level that was just painful enough to drive her nuts and always remind her of its existence – probably broken, which would explain the cast.

Her other arm and the rest of her body felt fine enough, though there were random aches from what she presumed to be random kicks delivered along her body.

All things considered, she came out of this okay, and it certainly could have gone a lot worse.

Physically, anyway.

Emotionally, those hours were much harder on her, since it was impossible to not think about Rachel dying.

What would Chloe do if Rachel died?

After all of this?

Just when she’s finally putting herself back together?

Just when she’s finally starting to feel like herself again, and her life had meaning?

… would that finally break her, beyond repair?

Show her that literally trusting anyone with her vulnerabilities meant that she would eventually get betrayed like this?

Heavy sigh.

Rachel couldn’t die.

She just couldn’t.

Chloe was going to lay here and stew and god damn it Rachel wasn’t going to die on her.

The thoughts continued to eat away at her, and no amount of television, ice cream, or trying to distract her thoughts helped.

She just sat and laid and stewed.

Rachel.

 

Eventually, though, later at night, when Chloe was about to nod off, she was rudely awoken by the door to the room opening and a bunch of medical staff carting – someone – into her room.

To not draw any attention to herself she kept quiet and just watched with one eye lazily opened, pretending to sleep, as staff fussed with some equipment.

Eventually, though, they thinned out, and Chloe gasped when she saw Rachel - looking exhausted, but conscious.

 _Alive_.

Even if it hurt like hell and there were still staff in the room Chloe couldn’t help but to get up and out of her bed and quickly make her way to Rachel’s side.

“Rachel!”

Rachel tiredly looked over to Chloe and smiled so warmly,

“Chloe …”

Chloe felt fuzzy and bubbly like she were a large soda can kicked off the side of a building and flopping around on the ground below after having exploded from the collision from the street side; she was giggly but teary, happy but sad; little concerns registered to her as she inappropriately leaned over and desperately hugged Rachel.

And Rachel was - different, most noticeably, drained, but her body was no less pleasant to hug, but her return hug was noticeably and worryingly weaker.

Still, Chloe buried her face away, trying to steady her tears though they refused to be.

“Oh my god, Rachel – you – I’m – you’re alive – I was so scared – and like – like – like!”

Chloe wasn’t thinking, for any of this, and her voice was muffled by Rachel’s hospital gown anyway, though Rachel gently patted at her back and practically cooed,

“Heh … a little stabbing isn’t enough to keep me from you.”

Still – this was wildly inappropriate, and they earned some pretty serious stares from the nurses and the doctor.

For now at least, neither cared, and Rachel mostly focused on how desperate and clingy Chloe was – like she really was genuinely choked up about this.

While she felt good about how much she cared, it was hard to not feel guilty for the tears she was surely causing, too.

The doctor, not amused, cleared his throat, but Chloe was not interested in him – only Rachel.

Rachel wasn’t much interested either.

The doctor sighed and leaned over to find the clipboard on Chloe’s bed.

“Chloe – Bowers? I know you’re excited, but, please, remain your bed, and be careful in contact with Ms. Amber, she’s still healing.”

Chloe, still, didn’t respond, but Rachel felt obligated to, looking up to the doctor and only briefly wondering why Chloe had Frank’s last name on the chart,

“Chloe is my excitable puppy dog of a girlfriend. Give her like … a minute, and she’ll let go.”

The doctor didn’t look pleased, but Rachel just smiled pleasantly and returned her attention to Chloe.

Rachel really honestly wasn’t feeling that great and was so exhausted, but Chloe was quickly warming up her mood, even if the tears and her desperation were worrying if endearing, but if only she was an effective balm for her aches; while Chloe’s hug was loving, it was also kinda painful, though Rachel didn’t care.

It was so worth it.

Eventually, the Chloe-dog laid down to snuggle into Rachel’s side, pointedly ignoring the pain so she could snuggle with her more intimately.

“Fuck. You gave me such a fucking scare, Rach … don’t ever do that to me again.”

Rachel giggled a little at her girlfriend’s possessive attentions, and even with the idle pain and her fatigue, it was beyond welcomed.

Just another thing that was so worth it.

“You’re not the only one who was scared … I thought I was going to die, Chloe.”

Chloe frowned, eventually relenting the hug just enough to look seriously at Rachel, who returned the expression.

“Like … you’re not invincible.”

The doctor cleared his throat for the third time, and finally, he got attention from the both of them.

By now, the nurses had left, leaving only him.

This probably wasn’t a conversation to have with company, so they decided to change gears, a bit.

The doctor spoke up whence he saw them looking at him.

“Ms. Bowers. Ms. Amber. I’m going to advise against this affection for now with your injuries, but …”

He sighed and shook his head, smiling just a bit.

“… I won’t enforce it.”

They giggled and took advantage of that, though understood they would probably need to genuinely rest in a bit, too.

The doctor looked at their charts.

“You’re both a couple weeks out from recovery, but, assuming no complications … it should be a straight-forward, if painful, path. We should be able to discharge you in the morning.”

He then put them away, shaking his head slightly.

“I will advise not getting into more knife fights, however.”

Chloe gave him a smirk as he was walking away to leave.

“Will you ‘enforce’ it, huh?”

He scoffed and gently shook his head, but Rachel giggled.

The door closing was a sort of sobering thing, though.

They were finally alone, which meant they could finally talk about stuff.

And boy did they have stuff to talk about.

Eventually, Chloe slumped more into Rachel’s side, and sort of huffed.

“I’m serious, though. Don’t do that again, Rach.”

Her eyes went down to the bed then back up at her.

“I – I can’t take this happening. I was a literal wreck for hours. I just kept thinking about losing you and – no _.”_

Rachel sighed at this, looking down and nodding, gently.

“I know, I know … I’m so sorry, Chloe.”

The two appreciated it for a few moments but eventually Rachel’s eyes went back up.

“I just saw Damon slashing Sera and I – I don’t know. I lost it. But. You don’t deserve to pick up the pieces if I make a dumb mistake like that.”

She took Chloe’s hands to hold them in her own.

“I want to try my best from now on to control my temper.”

She smiled, warmly, genuinely,

“For you.”

Chloe smiled so wide, too, though Rachel wasn’t quite done.

“Well – not _entirely_ for you. It was – I don’t even know how to describe it.”

Rachel’s eyes went down.

“I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. I felt so cold, and it felt like everything was crashing down – Sera would die, I would die, you would die …”

It was a pretty awful thought.

It made them both pensive for a few seconds.

Rachel then looked up and her eyes were a little irritated, though not at the tears stage yet.

“… I would lose everything. I would lose you. I – I can’t do that. I just can’t lose you.”

They both smiled, and Rachel brought a hand up to stroke at Chloe’s hair lovingly,

“So, yeah … I’m a dumbass. I’m sorry. But I promise – Chloe. I’m different, now.”

Chloe smiled so genuinely.

That felt so nice to hear and think about, and while Chloe needed to see it to fully believe it … it was a promise.

Rachel didn’t break her promises with Chloe.

But still, there was something about this moment that felt special – it was another moment Chloe wanted to kiss her.

… soon.

They were almost out of the woods …

Instead, Chloe just sighed, happy, and buried her face into Rachel’s neck or shoulders or whatever.

“Okay. Apology accepted, but I’m holding you to that, Rach. Or I’m so killing you.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully, of course happy to accept a snuggly Chloe, though she was lying if she said she didn’t think about the kiss, or maybe even … other things.

“If you kill me you’ll never get to kiss me.”

Chloe whined.

Rachel just grinned stupidly and lowered a hand down further to rub at Chloe’s back,

“… or do, other, things - to me.”

Chloe giggled and blushed and the two dissolved into giggly and affectionate, if strained and careful snuggling.

Eventually, though, Rachel slowed down to look at Chloe again.

“As much as I want to spend the rest of the night cuddling like this with you … what happened after - y’know?”

Chloe sighed and nodded gently.

“I uh, tried to wail on Damon and he beat the shit out of me. I guess Frank shot him after that and took the three of us to this hospital.”

Rachel blinked.

“Three?”

Her voice suddenly got higher and more excited, and her expression matched it,

“Does that mean Sera is still here?”

Chloe couldn’t help but smile at seeing genuine excitement out of Rachel like that,

“According to Frank, anyway … said the two of them wouldn’t leave until your condition stabilized.”

 

As if on cue, the door opened, but –

James and Rose entered, instead of the people who were supposed to be magically cued.

 

Chloe felt Rachel’s body tense up immediately, but didn’t quite blame her, since Chloe’s did much the same, and the two crossed their arms to look seriously at the couple, though remained quite close and clearly intimate.

Of course, just sharing a hospital bed would do that all on its own.

This however wasn’t too surprising to the either of James or Rose and they walked to the side of Rachel’s bed, still relying on each other for both physical and emotional support.

“Thank the heavens you’re okay - we were so worried – you have no idea how happy we are that –“

Rachel just uncrossed her arms.

“- Leave.”

Chloe noticed, however, this time it wasn’t as vicious and emotional as the last time Rachel said this, and while it was still quite forceful, she could tell there was more restraint there.

Finally.

James and Rose blinked.

James hesitated and bit his lip,

“Rachel, please, I know you’re upset at me, but now isn’t the time –“

Rachel just shook her head.

“- Get. The fuck. Out. I have nothing to say to you. I just want to see Sera.”

Rachel kept this even-handed but quite forceful, since, apparently, they weren’t taking the hint, and Rachel definitely didn’t want to have this conversation right now.

The four of them frowned, though Chloe elaborated for Rachel, since she figured James and Rose might not be on the same wavelength as them,

“We’re not interested in any bullshit excuses you have for hiring Damon and Frank. You went too far. Now if you don’t want to dig the hole even deeper, go swallow your fucking pride and get Sera in here.”

James crossed his arms, closing his eyes and just internally collapsing at how much of a failure this all ended up being, and even Rose’s support didn’t steady him.

While James recovered from the deep cut which Rose was still struggling with herself, she tried to salvage the situation.

“I know this looks bad, because, well, it is bad. And you know I don’t always agree with what your father does, but – we’re still family, Rachel. I’m still your mother. We can still work through this – together.”

Rachel looked off.

“No. I don’t even know who my family is anymore.”

She looked at them, and although the words were harsh, she delivered them evenly.

“You certainly did everything you could to keep me from ever finding out.”

It didn’t feel great to tell them off, nor was it amazing to watch Rose break down into tears, and James clearly struggling not to himself, but they did eventually get the hint and leave, presumably to get Sera.

When they closed the door, Rachel just sighed so wearily and buried her face in her hands, groaning loudly into them, sniffling thereafter, and Chloe consolingly started hugging and snuggling with her again.

“Hey, hey … shhh. It’s going to be alright. I’m here. Sera will be here soon, too.”

Chloe’s warmth was beyond appreciated here, especially in context of Rachel simply not knowing what she would do or how broken she would feel without her.

Rachel didn’t even feel like she had a family anymore.

But she had Chloe.

That meant something.

Still, Rachel cried, and still, the emotions turned up into a disconcerting mess in her stomach.

 

It was about a minute later when the door opened again – and at least by then, Rachel had stilled her tears.

The both of Chloe and Rachel looked up to the door –

 

Sera.

 

[["Tilikum" - Benjamin Francis Leftwich]](https://open.spotify.com/track/4sVnlrSGaRwnBaj35C2wXu?si=gqqvs3WMTH6CiiGdeRlEvQ)

 

Though she was not as either remembered her, what felt like forever ago when they first found out about James meeting with her, or even a few hours ago, when they saw her distraught at the Mill; every part of her was heavy with guilt, like it was physically crushing her, and her posture reflected this; slightly bent, hugging at herself, gaze downwards, eyes thick with irritation and tears and some of her makeup had even ran.

There was a lot for her to process and blame upon herself.

Rachel gasped.

Sera slowly looked up and did smile a sad thing as she saw Rachel, alive, if a little shaken, though the woman with her that was surprisingly intimate was something of a surprise.

Still, Rachel did nothing but just look at her mother.

Her true, real, actual mother.

Though leaving Chloe’s support was frankly not an option with her emotional state there was a desire to simply get up and fly towards her to embrace her and hug her as tightly as she could.

If only she wasn’t nursing this wound.

Sera found the reaction endearing, and slowly walked over to the bed.

“I know I’m – I’ve – I’ve made so many mistakes, I screwed up so much – I’m probably the last person you even want to see right now but –“

When she was closer, Rachel tried to get up but found her pain crippling, though Chloe automatically understood the desire and supported her up into a more seating position, still quite intimate.

Rachel was tearing up again, though frowned slightly at her mother’s tone and downcast appearance.

“- What? No. Stop that.”

She sniffled, and needed a few attempts to get the words out, slowly evening out her expression,

“You’re … my mom. There’s no one else I want to see right now. _No one_.”

Sera too, found herself tearing up, and desired physical contact with her daughter, but … still; there was a stranger hugging Rachel, literally supporting her up in her sitting position, and she probably didn’t even want that, anyway.

When Rachel only saw Sera’s hesitation she smiled as much as she could and slowly, carefully raised a hand up to offer it to Sera, and Chloe automatically peeled away to give them just a bit of space, though stayed at the ready to catch Rachel again when needed.

Without Chloe’s support Rachel was strained, but Sera was quick to convince herself to not just take the hand but do what she desired most: a hug; what little distance remained between them she quickly closed and embraced her daughter fully, supportively.

Sera and Rachel both hugged each other in a way that was immediately familiar to them both – eyes closed, face desperately buried, arms squeezing with every available once of muscle strength, breathing heavy and serious.

Tears.

Strangely, Chloe didn’t feel like she was intruding on this at all, and found herself tearing up a little too, just out of empathy.

It took a while for any words were said, and muffled though they were by Rachel’s person, Sera eventually spoke first.

 

“I’ve missed you … so much.”

 

Chloe found herself smiling as the two woman physically re-bonded, even if it was a blurry sort of smile, since the tears were coming now for real, but it felt so earned.

Cathartic.

But eventually, all good things must come to an end, and this hug to end all hugs slowly separated.

By Chloe’s eyes, the weight Sera carried with her seemed to have vanished instantly, and her expression was beyond happy at her daughter’s acceptance.

Still working on total autopilot, as Sera released Rachel, Chloe took her back into her arms, offering that support as needed, and mostly just enjoying the intimacy.

They both looked up at Sera.

For Sera, there was nothing more beautiful in the world than seeing her daughter smile with a face full of happy tears – even the stranger with her was a satisfying thing, since Rachel’s lack of rebuke only signified how close they must be.

She couldn’t put into words or even coherent thought how satisfying it was seeing her daughter grow up and becoming this, especially knowing how courageous she was even in the face of danger as evident as Damon.

And Rachel felt so comforted in the presence of not just Chloe but her true mother – it felt like she was home now, with her true, real family.

It was plainly all any of them needed for a few beautiful quiet seconds, them all just slowly recovering from the emotional exertion and steadying their tears, but after enough appreciating of the moment had been had, Sera slowly looked over to the stranger in the room, even if she felt like something closer than that simply by way of her closeness to her daughter.

Her eyes went back to Rachel.

“I’ve so much I want to say to you, but …”

They briefly flitted to Chloe again,

“… do you want her in here for this?”

Chloe kind of scoffed, suddenly grinning.

“You couldn’t remove me from this bed if you tried.”

Rachel giggled a little and Sera found herself quite endeared already, exhaling in amusement, though still wanting her daughter’s say-so, so her eyes went back to her by way of asking for it.

Rachel easily just nodded.

“Chloe is a part of me, mom. She’s my girlfriend and – well – she knows everything. Anything you can say you to me you can say to her.”

Both Chloe and Sera found this answer satisfying – Sera for being called ‘mom’, Chloe for being ‘a part’ of Rachel, but the description felt quite apt, and Chloe without Rachel simply wasn’t Chloe anymore, so they really were a part of each other now.

Sera just nodded herself.

“Of course. I can feel how radiant your energies are together. It’s a wonderful glow.”

She crossed her arms, smiling.

“There’s so much I want to say, but … I feel like I owe you an explanation, first. Ask anything you want to know.”

As the conversation was progressing Rachel found sitting quite tiring, even with Chloe’s support, so she slowly worked her way back down on the bed – and her body complained at her, upset at her spending so much time not resting, but the feeling of the hug was more than worth this ache.

“Oh, uhm … yeah.”

She breathed in deep, and this did require quite a mood change, and it wasn’t a gear Rachel was supper happy in engaging, but …

“Why did you come out here to see me?”

Sera nodded at the fairly logical desire, closing her eyes and looking more serious now that they were talking proper.

“Well. When your father and I separated, the agreement was never that I would never see you again. He just … he wanted me clean.”

She looked down, grim all of the sudden.

“… that took a while.”

The quiet that followed was hard on all of them, for different reasons, though it earned frowns across the board.

Eventually Sera looked back up.

“It’s … it’s so hard. You don’t know how hard I tried to escape, to get clean – I did everything I could think of.”

She actually kind of smiled for some reason, expression getting more distant,

“You would think losing you would be my rock bottom, but …”

Her eyes went away and the frown came back before her eyes returned,

“… there’s no limit to how far you can fall.”

Rachel and Chloe just blinked, quietly taking the story in.

Sera shook her head a little,

“It wasn’t easy, but I got myself clean five years ago. My anniversary was a week or so ago.”

Rachel blinked, seeing the obvious connection,

“… when you arranged to see James …”

 Sera nodded.

“I – don’t know how you found out about that. But yeah. I told him I was clean and I had been for a while and he just – he wouldn’t let me see you.”

The three of them frowned again.

Rachel grumbled.

“The bastard.”

It wasn’t even angry, just coldly indifferent, though it made Sera visibly flinch and sigh sadly.

“Your father has his reasons.”

She looked down again,

“I don’t even blame him for not letting me see you. I was the worst parent in the world.”

Rachel shook her head at this, inching a bit closer to Sera in her bed,

“No – no no. I mean – I don’t remember it but – like –“

Sera blinked and looked to Rachel as Rachel smiled and offered one of her hands which Chloe had to give up with a small complaining sound,

“- that’s who you were. Not who you are. You got clean … just for me.”

Rachel frowned,

“He doesn’t get to choose who my family is for me.”

Sera was happy to take Rachel’s hand and hear her speak so affirmingly, since it was such a warm-fuzzy feeling.

But it didn’t feel earned.

Rachel just didn’t know.

And there was that worrying undercurrent from her earlier outburst at the mention of James.

 

“… Rachel.”

 

It was painful, but her expression slowly died and became more serious again, and Rachel’s did too, in mirror.

Sera bit her lip and hesitated.

“I didn’t come out here to replace your family. I just – wanted to see you again. To make sure you were doing fine. Without me.”

Rachel frowned miserably,

“Screw my family. Just a bunch of lying pricks.”

Once again, Chloe noticed it came out coldly, but not with a lot of anger – just a matter of fact sort of thing, now.

But Sera’s expression became even worse, registering clear sadness and regret.

That was something she caused.

This was her fault.

… but Rachel couldn’t think like that.

The Ambers were a lot of things, but they were not ‘just’ ‘lying pricks’.

“No, Rachel. I know me coming out here forced some family fault lines, but.”

She shook her head,

“You have a life here. You have a loving family, who, yes, make some mistakes sometimes, but genuinely care and love you. You’re doing wonderful in school.”

Sera very briefly looked over to Chloe and just barely managed a quick smile,

“You’ve even got a wonderfully supportive girlfriend who loves you so much she almost died protecting you.”

Before her eyes went back to Rachel, she crossed her arms, and her expression became somber again.

“James has told me everything, and how wonderful you are without me. You have a great life. Don’t ruin it.”

Rachel just shook her head again, slowly taking her hand back though of course Chloe just thoughtlessly stole it again.

“No. It’s all crap – it’s. Ugh.”

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply,

“As soon as I can, I’m leaving. Maybe to LA. Maybe to Seattle. With Chloe. Just – leave all of this bullshit behind.”

Sera flinched again as Rachel opened her eyes to look at her mother again.

It felt so painful to tell Rachel this, but Rachel couldn’t make her same mistakes again.

She just couldn’t.

Sera wouldn’t let her.

It was the one responsibility of a parent she hadn’t yet failed and didn’t intend to.

Her expression hardened.

“ _Rachel Dawn Amber_. Listen to me.”

Rachel did, though obviously resented the full-name call.

Sera couldn’t keep the harsh look for long though, not looking at her wonderful daughter.

“I know you just want to - burn everything down, screw everyone, change town and find something new.”

They both frowned, though Sera continued,

“And I know because that’s exactly how I was. Because it’s _easy_.”

Rachel blinked.

Sera’s frown slowly became a sad smile.

“It’s so, so much easier to just … start all over. Especially with a loved one, when it feels like you can go anywhere, do anything …”

She slowly uncrossed her arms, gently brushing Rachel’s hair with one of her hands, still smiling,

“… but that’s not how you make a happy life. That’s how you ruin one.”

Rachel still frowned, contemplating, and Sera gave her the moments to think before continuing,

“We always think ‘just this’. If I can just move. If I can just get a good job. If I can just get a fancy house. If I can just get a good partner. If I just wasn’t born with this. If my parents were better. If I was just skinnier. If, if, if …”

She sighed.

“But happiness never comes from scratching these ‘if’s. It comes from effort, in making your life _worth_ living – and it is _effort_. Relationships are hard. Working a job or going to school is hard. Finding purpose in your life is probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do.”

She sighed,

“But it’s _worth it_. There’s nothing better in the world than just making a life worth living … and I hate how long it took me to learn that.”

She smiled more earnestly now, crossing her arms again,

“But learn it I did. And I have a wonderful wife and beautiful baby son waiting for me when I return to Long Beach.”

Rachel huffed a little at the very obvious scolding, but it felt more like a pain Sera was trying to keep her from than some arbitrary lesson James or Rose tried to impose on her.

Plus, it was just nice to think that her mother was content and happy …

… though that did mean Sera had a complete life without Rachel even it.

Like she said, she didn’t come out here to replace Rachel’s family.

“… oh. Um.”

Her eyes looked down, and she hesitated.

“I wasn’t expecting – I thought – maybe I could ...”

She looked up again, feeling strangely put-out with the otherwise happy news that Sera was living a good life,

“… maybe come with you? I know you – you think what you do about James and – I just don’t like him anymore. I can’t trust him. My Chloe is – well – she’s the only thing I have out here, really. … other than you.”

This even sounded a little nervous and unsarcastically disjointed, but this was definitely not something Rachel was expecting to happen and she was just running her brain for words.

Sera bit her lip.

How badly did she want that – to bring Rachel home with her, to welcome her back into her life like nothing had gone wrong and she hadn’t made the greatest mistake of her life –

But how little could she yet indulge it.

It was so unfair, but … no.

The romantic in her desperately wanted to oblige her daughter and show her her ways of living, but the adult, the parent, knew the correct answer to Rachel’s question.

It was maybe the second greatest mistake of her life, and the most painful part of this conversation yet, but Sera had no choice.

She sniffled and felt like she was tearing her own heart out to get the words out,

“Rachel, please … You know I would love nothing more than to do that, but – I can’t.”

Rachel found herself tearing up too and she wasn’t sure to what extent it was empathy,

“Why not? I – I know you have a family but I can – I can fit in, if I try, and Chloe can too, she - she’s great like that and – you love me, don’t you? So like – it should – it should – I can – _we_ , can --"

Her voice started to pick up in speed and pitch here, though she stilled herself with a pointed rub from Chloe, who was sensing her emotions getting out-of-hand again.

Sera simply nodded, definitely crying by now, and it was pretty heartbreaking to hear Rachel sort of desperately ramble for a way for this to work.

“ _Shhhhhh_. I do love you, my wonderful, perfect, beautiful daughter but – no. I want to, but … no.”

She hated how trembling and emotional her voice was, but there simply wasn’t the willpower to steady her tone,

“Stay here. Work on your life. Patch things over with your family. Do well in school.”

Rachel frowned, and Sera hesitated.

She just … couldn’t not.

It was dumb and irresponsible but she just couldn’t look at her daughter’s face and give her so little after they both had sacrificed so much.

“… and, when you graduate, if you still want to leave … you can come live with me and my wife until you two can find a place on your own.”

She frowned,

“But only then. Only after you’ve tried to make things work _here_.”

She smiled and sniffled,

“Please.”

Rachel found herself so conflicted – this is not at all what she imagined would happen in this conversation.

She knew Sera probably had a reason for saying this, and she knew James probably had a reason for wanting her to stay away, and she knew Sera probably would know better than her about starting over and all of that, but she just couldn’t shake away the feeling of wanting to leave.

But … maybe.

Maybe with Chloe here.

Maybe she could manage until she graduated.

Maybe if she could just call her mom up whenever and hear her voice …

Maybe she could make her happy.

Rachel knew she’d have a better chance of success out there with a high school diploma, anyway, just – it felt so impossible and far off, now.

But she had Chloe.

She had her mother.

 

She could try.

 

“A-alright. I can try.”

Sera sighed so contently, feeling yet another awful weight lifted off her back, and closing her eyes.

“Thank you.”

For what, Sera didn’t know – maybe this feeling that she hadn’t somehow failed entirely in her role as Rachel’s mother.

And that there was no mistake yet not redeemable.

And that her daughter might yet be part of her life again, in a more responsible way, despite the mistakes made even on the trip here.

Maybe this was the best outcome that could have possibly come from this situation.

Whatever it was, Sera felt at ease, at peace, for once.

She slowly opened her eyes and smiled down at her daughter, who weakly smiled back up at her.

“I … suppose I can tell you what it’s like. So you can better make your decision.”

Rachel smiled more enthusiastically at this.

“Please.”

Sera nodded and sat down at the foot of the bed, closing her eyes and just thinking.

 

Chloe finally had the time to absorb all of this and really process things – not feeling like she was entitled to interject at any point other than gently reminding Rachel to keep calm, earlier.

Any doubts about Sera not being Rachel’s biological mother were wiped out by her painting a beautiful picture of her life in Long Beach, and how amazing her wife was.

She supposed if Rachel inherited the bad parts, she inherited the good parts, too …

It was honestly a pretty relaxing thing.

They both closed their eyes to just absorb it, smiling and enjoying each other’s company.

 

Eventually, Sera left, saying they needed to rest and recover, and she was so happy Rachel didn’t reject her and she came out of this okay.

They both got her number and a promise that she would pick up whenever they called.

Rachel and Chloe were both exhausted now, not just physically but emotionally, but those emotions they went through felt necessary.

Cathartic, even.

As they snuggled on the bed, slowly falling asleep for the night, Rachel quietly vented her worries about not being able to last until she graduated, and Chloe confidently told her she could do anything if she put her mind to it.

 

She was a force of nature, after all.

 

With that, they fell asleep, having a whole lot to think about and consider, but also having the brightest yet path for their future together, as though a star had been picked out from this large, confusing night sky, and given to them as a way forward, reminding them both about how insignificant they really were, yet also about the potential of it all, no matter the hardships or mistakes along the way.

It was a thought, eventually, that was relaxing.

They slept peacefully, despite their wounds, of both the emotional and physical sort.

 

Tomorrow would be a new day.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once, everything is just chill.
> 
> Until Rachel needs to shower.

While waking up in a hospital is not really a pleasant or relaxing experience – the air smells too stale, the walls feel too close, everything’s just a bit too unsettlingly off-white - the experience can be markedly improved by waking up in someone else’s arms, sharing the bed with you.

This became something of a running theme.

Chloe and Rachel both woke up very gently, mostly just staring at each other’s eyes and little else for a few minutes, idly snuggled together.

Their bodies were covered in all sorts of fatigue and aches and pains, so much movement was discouraged, though they did feel better after some serious rest, even if they had been up entirely too late finishing out the whole Sera saga.

But now … it felt like a weight had been lifted.

It’s not like there was an amazing resolution to the whole affair with Rachel still upset at her family, but Rachel at least got to talk to Sera, and Rachel seemed interested in mellowing herself out now especially after the stabbing.

And for Rachel, there was nothing more genuinely comforting than to know that not only her girlfriend would go to the ends of the earth to help her with things like this, she would defend her at any cost necessary – including potential death.

Rachel just now had to make that dedication worthwhile.

And although there were thoughts of the seemingly-impossible that Sera asked out of her and the unpleasantness with her family, Rachel pretty much just thought entirely about Chloe – and more specifically, kissing her.

Soon.

… but not just kissing her.

Any girlfriend could reward theirs with a kiss.

Rachel wanted to do … something, something even more, something more meaningful and expressing of her affection and dedication.

She didn’t know quite what, yet, but she knew she would think of something, and Chloe would know putting all of this effort and trust into Rachel was worth it.

 

That morning went by pretty lazily.

Chloe and Rachel simply didn’t need words to communicate simple stuff anymore, and both wanted more rest on a sort of primal level, which meant they took turns watching the other sleep like the cutest dork in the world.

Eventually, someone came into their room.

 

Frank.

 

As he entered the room he got the full attention of both Rachel and Chloe, who smiled pretty much automatically at seeing him.

Frank smiled for a bit too at seeing their warm faces, though did eventually even out his expression and look away with a quick arm rub.

“Hey, kids. Healin’ up okay?”

Chloe groaned.

“I am a creature of intense suffering.”

Rachel giggled gently at the particular wording while Frank rolled his eyes and walked up to the edge of the bed.

“… right.”

He looked down before placing his hands on the little railing going along the bed’s side,

“Y’know, if you want to stay a bit longer in the hospital, I can find the money somewhere.”

He looked up, very serious all of the sudden.

Chloe blinked.

Rachel frowned initially but then smiled.

“The sooner I can recover in Chloe’s bed, the better. No, we’re leaving as soon as possible, but …”

Her smile got even wider,

“… thanks for the offer, Frank.”

The three of them shared the smile, though that just didn’t feel like enough to Rachel, and although she relied entirely on Chloe to help her up into a closer, more sitting position, she still went through the trouble just to be that much closer and to make the position between them more intimate.

“… in fact, thanks for a lot. For like … everything.”

Frank kind of scoffed, crossing his arms.

“Yeah?”

Rachel nodded, practically beaming as she looked up to him.

“Yeah. Chloe ---”

She briefly looked to Chloe, who was mutely resting her chin on some part of Rachel’s shoulder and just holding her upright with her protective arms,

“--- told me everything.”

Rachel then looked back to Frank and bit her lip for a serious moment or two.

“We’d be dead without you.”

Frank sighed and responded in a way Rachel didn’t expect, with his smile going away and his eyes closing in obvious thought for a second or two.

Eventually, he opened his eyes again.

“Thanks. But the only reason you two were in that position to begin with is ‘cuz of me. I shoulda’ known better …”

He frowned, uncrossing his arms.

“I should have – Damon. _I_ saw the warning sides. _I_ knew what he was going through …”

He then looked down while they absorbed the thought, all quiet.

 

“… shoulda’ never let you two within a mile of him.”

 

Eventually, he looked back up, still frowning.

Rachel frowned, too, but not out of annoyance or anything, mostly lips pursed with thought.

“We don’t care if you made a mistake or two. We just care that you came through for us when we needed it most.”

For some reason, speaking on behalf of Chloe didn’t even begin to register as inappropriate or odd, and it was so automatic that Chloe didn’t even change her posture or object at all.

Frank thought about it some more, and Rachel’s frown slowly went away to be replaced by a warmer smile.

She got up onto her knees – again with the help of Chloe – so they were even closer.

Then, like Frank, there was a brief moment where her eyes went anywhere but to him in those barest of moments of consideration but returned soon enough.

“There’s not many people that would do that for us. Or that we can trust, that much …”

Chloe nodded silently while Frank hummed thoughtfully.

Rachel just looked seriously at Frank, who found himself reciprocating automatically,

“… and it just means a lot to us, okay?”

Frank gave the moment the appropriate levity Rachel was trying to impose, nodding solemnly and thinking before smiling and crossing his arms again.

“Alright. Well. Thanks.”

His eyes went down to the floor again,

“I’m glad _something_ went right out of all of this …”

Though his tone was not heavy with sorrow, Chloe understood it to be there anyway, and bit her lip for a few moments.

“Have you been alone in the RV since … y’know?”

Frank looked back up to Chloe and blinked, then shook his head.

“No. Been avoidin’ it.”

They all understood why, and it made things more sour despite it being a relatively happy moment otherwise.

It was one of the situations even Rachel didn’t know what to say, really.

And when the moment just became too awkward, after a few seconds too many, Frank just sighed and shook his head.

“But never mind that. I’m glad you kids are okay. Shout if you need anything.”

Rachel and Chloe looked at each other, briefly, before back up to Frank.

Somehow, they thought the same exact thing, at that same exact time.

 

“Can you drive us to Chloe’s home?”

 

Frank smiled.

 

\---

 

Moving around was not easy.

Rachel basically relied on Chloe for … everything, now, short of physically compressing her chest to breathe, or something.

 

If Rachel wanted to sit up, Chloe was there.

If Rachel wanted to eat, Chloe was there.

If Rachel wanted to move, Chloe was there.

 

Getting out of the hospital, into Frank’s RV, then all the way to Chloe’s room relied so much on Chloe, but Rachel refused the comforts of things like wheelchairs or something that might steady her, intentionally binding herself to Chloe’s care.

It’s not as though Chloe was in amazing shape either but found the burden not terribly hard to lift.

Importantly, being Rachel’s everything meant their intimacy just evolved to an even greater level; Chloe learned little signs and body language of Rachel to help predict how to support her and help her along; she learned the little ways Rachel would huff before she wanted to get up, or the slight, annoyed shuffling when Rachel needed something like food or weed, and soon, Rachel didn’t even have to _ask_ Chloe to help her in the various ways she needed, it was just completely automatic.

That afternoon was probably the laziest one they had ever had, yet, though it had a fun start.

As Rachel flopped on Chloe’s bed she immediately started reeling from pain and deciding to not do that again, but Chloe was quick to follow, and her hands were quick to start being devious, and therefore, helpfully distracting; the second Chloe was snuggled up to her, Rachel found Chloe’s hands tugging Rachel’s pants down, as if to remove them, grinning like a massive idiot while she did so.

And while it wasn’t as though she wasn’t allowed to do that, it still made Rachel eye her.

“It helps if you undo the button first, dummy.”

Chloe blinked, but the playfulness was so appreciated, and she giggled, still tugging but kind of ineffectually so.

“I wanted to see what you’d say.”

Rachel sighed contently and turned onto her side, though with some difficulty, and slowly raised her hands up to place them on Chloe’s cheeks.

“If you want them off …”

Chloe rubbed her face a little into the hands,

“… yeah. It’s a rule.”

Rachel blinked but found herself grinning.

“A rule?”

Chloe’s face got closer, her grin practically splitting her face in two,

“A rule. My house. My rules. No pants in my room.”

She undid the button without any concern from Rachel while Rachel just rolled her eyes, though quite endeared.

“You never wear pants in your room?”

Chloe moved her face even closer until their foreheads touched, closing her eyes and sighing contently into Rachel’s face while she wormed the pants down.

“Not anymore.”

 

They both giggled, but still stripped – even if this was more awkward than it should be with Rachel’s limited mobility and Chloe’s cast.

Nothing was going to keep them from a half-naked girlfriend.

The day was pretty lazy, past that.

Chloe’s bed smelled of weed, unsurprisingly, but there was just something deeply relaxing about laying on her bed while the sunlight hazily penetrated through drawn curtains, either watching Chloe do stuff on her computer, do stuff to help Rachel, or snuggling with her.

Rachel just found her eyes on Chloe a lot.

 

Especially now that Chloe was just walking around without pants on, like, fuck.

 

In the rare moments Chloe wasn’t the main or only thing on Rachel’s mind, when Chloe left the room to do something, mostly, Rachel pulled out her phone and just caught up on stuff that felt pretty trivial now.

Still, with both Chloe _and_ Rachel on medical leave from school, there were a lot of rumors and curious friends inquiring about things, especially since this all happened so soon after the school found out about Rachel’s new girlfriend, and although Rachel didn’t make a huge deal of it to her friends, it did make her feel just that much better whenever she saw the word ‘girlfriend’ in the context of Chloe on the screen.

Things were going to be alright.

 

It was the first morning thereafter that presented problems: Rachel wanted to shower, and didn’t think she could do it on her own.

While Chloe just stared obliviously and dorkily at her girlfriend, Rachel wondered about how to deal with this; obviously, Chloe could help her, but Rachel didn’t really want her first time being naked around Chloe to be tainted by the fact she could barely even move.

So, Rachel closed her eyes and sighed a bit wearily, to which Chloe somehow understood the meaning of, rubbing her face a bit down into Rachel’s neck affectionately.

“What’s wrong?”

Rachel grunted and gently looked down at Chloe,

“I want to shower.”

They slept in their underwear, so Chloe’s fingers along her exposed belly weren’t scandalizing, it just was.

Not even when they meaningfully teased a bit lower, more towards her panties, with the obvious implications of showering in her mind now.

Still, Chloe grinned.

“Ooooohhh noooooo. _Whatever_ will you _do_?”

Rachel rolled her eyes at Chloe’s exaggerated tone, but found herself more endeared to her dorky girlfriend as Chloe got up a bit more and looked at Rachel with a huge dorky grin.

“Guess you’ll have to rely on me, again.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

“Truly, a fate worse than death.”

They both giggled and Chloe got off the bed to help Rachel up and towards the bathroom.

Still, Rachel sighed as she was being helped along, powering through the stinging, mindnumbing pain so they could talk.

“I just – I wanted it to be special, y’know?”

They left Chloe’s room and pointedly avoided talking about it in the hallway, in case Joyce overheard, and didn’t resume until they were in the bathroom.

Rachel leaned on the sink for her support so she could face Chloe and they could have the conversation more seriously.

Chloe crossed her arms a bit, shrugging.

Her eyes went down for just that second before up again,

“Who says it won’t be?”

Rachel frowned, though wasn’t sure how much it was due to disappointment or thought,

“What do you mean? I can hardly move. And every inch you move me is nothing but pain.”

Chloe nodded, and her expression got gentler.

“But isn’t there something, I dunno, kinda awesome about relying on me so much?”

She uncrossed her arms and tilted her head unknowingly to the side a bit, smiling wider.

“I mean. I kinda like it. I dunno.”

Rachel thought about it and nodded gently, unable to do much else but smile along with Chloe, since her girlfriend’s smile was genuinely so adorable,

“… sure. And I guess we don’t have to worry about like, Sera, or anything, anymore …”

With a nod herself, Chloe stepped closer to Rachel and hugged her, the two melting into each other in now quite familiar ways.

Rachel appreciated how the height difference allowed her to slot her face into Chloe’s neck, and how Chloe could settle her face atop Rachel’s head – it just felt like they were literally made to fit into each other, like this.

Plus, Chloe had the frankly great idea to help Rachel’s bra off without directly ogling her, which while that would have been adorable to watch, it would have dragged it out longer and Rachel knew she would do something playful or silly in response to Chloe giving her googly eyes.

But like she said.

She wanted this to be special, and Chloe was doing the right things to make sure it was, as much as it could be.

Soon, the bra was off, and Chloe worked her own off as well – Rachel wanted to mirror what Chloe did to her but found lifting her arms up that high rather uncomfortable and difficult.

Panties came second, though at least Rachel could return the favor this time.

Finally, with everything bare, there were a few seconds of just gentle, affectionate exploration, to places even more vulnerable.

It was just such a nice moment and so tender they both found their eyes closed just for a moment or two to appreciate it.

Rachel was somewhat annoyed that she could hardly move, and when she did it usually resulted in side-splitting pain, but she had to admit Chloe had a point – relying on her to even literally strip made this whole moment way slower and gentler than it may have been otherwise, and appropriately serious.

Special.

It was later when Chloe finally pulled away from the embrace enough to look down at their exposed bodies, and while of course, they both found themselves blushing, they were still smiling, and no efforts were made to conceal, and no thoughts of discomfort was there.

If anything, they felt even more comfortable, now that one of the last barriers in their relationship was gone.

Still, Chloe took her moment, and after her eyes flicked away for a second or two, she cleared her throat.

“You’re, um, … gorgeous.”

Rachel giggled a little and moved forward to place her body against Chloe’s again, half out of necessity, half out of desire, and just cutely looked up at her.

“So are you.”

 

If only the rest of it could be so gentle and care-free, but, unfortunately, this was a pragmatic kind of thing, Chloe being right here right now.

Almost immediately, as they started more towards the shower, Rachel groaned along in her pain, and although the hot waters of the shower felt _amazing_ , and Chloe’s hands even _better_ , it wasn’t something that could kill the pain, merely distract away from it – briefly.

At first, Chloe’s touch was a little awkward, and there was lingering here and there to get certain glances – from both – but it was just something she got used to pretty quickly.

Soon, Chloe was helping Rachel shower properly, including with soaps and washing her too-long hair, which would have been impossible were Rachel left alone to do it, and while their blushes or awareness of the specialness of the moment never quite went away, this was also a practical thing, and neither allowed their minds to wander too far in one direction or the other.

 

For a little while, at least.

 

After Rachel “helped” Chloe shower – mostly by just ogling her – they both left and started to dry off and redress their bandages, and that’s when their thoughts started to drift.

There … wasn’t really much keeping them from sex, anymore, and while it wasn’t as though seeing Rachel’s naked body was sending Chloe into uncontrollable lust, the reasons why they shouldn’t were pretty much nonexistent anymore.

The thing with Sera was all done with.

This was on their terms.

So as Chloe – poorly but trying her best – started to help Rachel dry out her hair, her eyes kept flicking down to Rachel’s body.

Since they were in front of a mirror, obviously, it was hard not to stare and get a little giggly and blushy, even if she was still doing something practical to help her.

And soon, a rather compelling thought kept invasively tugging at her conscious.

 

“Wanna cuddle naked whence we finish up here?”

 

It came with some giggles and a pretty wordless acceptance, even if it took entirely too long to dry and style Rachel’s hair since Chloe mostly didn’t know what she was doing – it had been years since she dealt with long hair.

But Chloe loved her hair and promised to herself she’d relearn all of this stuff, just so she could be a good, helpful girlfriend from time to time – even if she had zero plans on growing her hair out, or even combing it, instead just running a towel over it and shaking her head like some kind of dog.

Endearing.

 

More pain followed getting back into Chloe’s room, but at least Rachel learned her lesson about flopping and instead had Chloe cutely and gently help her down.

After Rachel was sitting, Chloe backed up and put one of her arms behind her own back, the other across her front, making her expression all serious.

Rachel blinked.

Chloe just looked at her.

“Would the missus like anything else this evening?”

Chloe was such a fucking dork.

Rachel giggled and giggled and giggled, moving forward as much as she could to try and tug Chloe down with her, who was, of course, happy to flop down on the bed next to her and get them both under the sheets.

Then, their hands started to wander, again, only this time, they had no practical distractions to worry or take care of, just fresh, squeaky clean naked skin to explore, and a blushy, giggly girlfriend to adore.

For a few moments, they just stared doe-eyed at each other while continuing their rubbing, starting to breathe a bit heavier.

Rachel found that to be painful, unfortunately, and started to realize if she exerted herself too much, it’d probably hurt even more – probably in a very unsexy way, too.

Even just breathing could hurt, sometimes.

But at the same time, she was tired of just telling Chloe to wait, and she knew Chloe was getting tired of hearing it.

This wouldn’t last; Rachel wouldn’t be able to resist Chloe for much longer, especially if Chloe just kept being so damn cute.

Chloe had some similar thoughts herself, mostly wondering how appropriate sex would be, considering one of her hands was in a cast and Rachel was still all pained and immobile.

So she decided to test if Rachel would want to, despite all of that, but it’s not like she could just come out and say ‘do you want to fuck’.

Instead, her eyes sort of flicked down at Rachel’s body, and her not-casted hand meaningfully moved to Rachel’s inner thighs, rubbing up in a very purposeful way, and although Rachel’s body responded positively initially by spreading her legs a little, they then soon closed on Chloe’s hand.

Chloe found herself frowning slightly before she could help it and she looked up to Rachel, who was slightly frowning, too – still, the body language was obvious, and Chloe brought her hand up to tease at Rachel’s belly, instead.

“… why not?”

Her voice came out so breathless and throaty, almost surprising its owner from the tone.

Rachel sighed gently, once again bringing her hands up to Chloe’s cheeks, and they automatically got closer until their foreheads were in contact again, eyes closing.

“… you know I want to, more than anything else, Chloe …”

Chloe frowned some more, though not that either could see,

“… but?”

Rachel gently shook her head.

“I’m hurting all over. I can barely even move …”

Chloe whiiiiiined and Rachel _knew_ that was going to be a problem in the future since it was just so adorable and strangely convincing.

“I’ll be gentle. I uh … know your body by now, Rach.”

It was hard not to giggle at that, even if a breathless giggle was an odd thing to hear, and Rachel smiled, despite it all.

“I know you will. I dream about it … a lot.”

Quiet.

All they could hear was each other’s slightly-heated breathing.

Rachel bit her lip.

“I want to remember this for the rest of my life, Chloe – and I – I know – I’ve been thinking of how to make that moment something that I _will_ remember.”

Chloe blinked her eyes open, finally.

“Yeah …? What’d you have in mind?”

Her hands moved to Rachel’s sides, though she had to avoid a pretty large chunk of one of them due to the location of the stab wound.

Rachel sighed dreamily.

“I’m thinking … a perfect dinner. Like –“

She opened her eyes to look squarely but affectionately at Chloe,

“- Imagine it. Me in my best dress. You in … presentable, clothes. The nicest restaurant in town – the best meal you’ve ever had in your life. We can play footsie the entire time and rack up stares from other patrons.”

As was tradition whenever Rachel decided to paint a beautiful scene with her words, they soon closed their eyes, just imagining it in their head.

Rachel continued, though her voice got even more gentle.

“… then, as the night is drawing long, the candles have burned all the way down, everyone is leaving, we’ve had two or three glasses of the best wine they have and we’re just … staring, at each other, in love … we kiss.”

Chloe sighed dreamily.

It was a pretty compelling vision.

Rachel still wasn’t done.

“And, I’m not going to lie, we’re probably going to make out for like, an hour.”

They both giggled gently.

“Finally, we get back to your place and you carefully unzip my dress, we make out some more as I work your clothes off and we … make the most passionate love this town has never known, with the only light in the room coming from the stars and the moon outside.”

Chloe hummed thoughtfully.

“Fuck, Rach …”

The thought was just … nice.

Romantic.

Chloe got lost imagining how amazing Rachel would look in her ‘best’ dress, and how perfect her makeup and hair would be, and how beautiful her smile …

It really did feel like something that would be that sort of memory Rachel fantasized about.

But – still.

Chloe eventually opened her eyes and mirrored Rachel’s gesture by holding her face in her hands, too.

“When? I wanna – I gotta, fuck, Rach. This sounds amazing.”

Rachel’s expression actually dampened a bit from her genuine pleasure at seeing Chloe’s jittery excitement, since, well …

Her eyes went down.

Chloe wasn’t going to like the answer.

“I – I don’t know. When your hand heals? When I can move without dying? Like … two weeks. Three. Something.”

Rachel got that damn adorable whine again and knew it was coming.

It wasn’t any easier to hear or resist.

“I dunno if I can last that long. Can we just ---”

Her hands went down to Rachel’s neck and shoulders to rub meaningfully,

“—y’know?”

Rachel sighed and considered.

No part of her wanted to wait that long, either.

“I – at least a few days, Chloe.”

Her eyes went back up, finally.

“I just don’t feel very sexy right now with all this pain. Maybe tomorrow or whatever but –“

She bit her lip,

“- not now. Sorry.”

And of course, Chloe was disappointed, but she believed Rachel when she said these things, and didn’t doubt that this amazing date would eventually happen.

Maybe it was for the best to wait for the amazing moment to ensure it never left her mind.

Maybe Rachel would relent in a few days when the pain was more tolerable, and then they’d just have two amazing moments.

Either way, Chloe wasn’t going to push Rachel – today – for anything else.

Instead, she sighed and tried to calm herself down with a little nod.

Eventually, they laid on their backs, just looking up at Chloe’s ceiling.

She still had some of those glow-in-the-dark star stickers from when she was younger, since she never bothered to take them off, just another of the little hints of how lived-in Chloe’s room actually was.

Chloe soon looked over to Rachel.

 

“So what are we going to do in the mean time?”

 

Rachel looked over to Chloe, smiling.

“Cuddle nakedly, get high, and watch dumb movies?”

Chloe made an appreciative sound, smiling herself.

“It’s a date.”

 

The morning went by predictably if lazily from there – Joyce made breakfast, soon, and they all ate together.

Chloe didn’t much want to talk to her mother or introduce Rachel as her girlfriend but knew it would have to happen eventually – just not now.

There was a not-pleasant conversation about their injuries prompting a pretty closed-off Chloe, and this time, Rachel completely understood how she could wall her mother off like that, having done so to her own ‘mother’.

At least Joyce was still pleasant enough to Rachel.

 

Going back up stairs, they immediately stripped again to just enjoy the new intimacy they unlocked in a lazy sort of way; Chloe found some weed, but she only had empty beer bottles instead of any alcohol.

That was fine.

They mostly just got high, watched movies, and rested, snuggling variously but equally nakedly throughout the day – and Rachel finally got her wish of having nothing to worry about other than just Chloe.

No school, no parents, no Sera – just Chloe.

 

Much later in the day, though, Chloe was clearly thinking about something, since the gears in her head were endearingly obvious when they were turning.

Rachel cutely looked up.

“What’s on your mind?”

Chloe produced another thoughtful sound and looked down to Rachel – them both snuggling lazily on the bed, spooning now, since that was comfortable for watching movies, and Chloe’s height allowed Rachel to be an effortless little spoon surrounded by her protective girlfriend.

Chloe then just kind of shrugged.

“Been thinking about the Tempest.”

Rachel blinked.

“You _have?_ ”

The genuine surprise made Chloe smile since it’s not like she had expressed any interest that wasn’t directly related to Rachel, prior.

Then she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, but, like, in a specific way.”

Rachel hummed thoughtfully, and Chloe paused whatever movie they were watching to look more seriously at Rachel.

“I think we need to go squeeze Victoria to give you your role back.”

Rachel blinked again, a few times.

Chloe bit her own lip,

“Like – I know I’m pulling a 180 on this but, fuck her, Rach. She doesn’t deserve it.”

Rachel hesitated.

“Chloe, I’d – I’d love to, but then she’d blab about my dad, and –“

Chloe shook her head, giving Rachel a squeeze,

“- fuck it. Who cares. Anyone gives you shit for it has to answer to me.”

Rachel blinked again but slowly started to grin.

“It’s a very tempting offer, Price …”

Chloe smiled.

It just felt nice that she meant so much to Rachel she could act as a ballast against some of the unfair bullshit going on in her life.

Rachel thought about it for some pretty obvious seconds but realized she was relenting pretty easily, since Victoria seriously deserved some come-up-ance for this bullshit, and between the two of them, they could do just that.

“Alright. As soon as we’re physically able to, we’ll go back to Blackwell and try and get Vic to relent.”

Chloe grinned.

“And then I punch her in the dick if she doesn’t.”

Rachel smirked but scoffed.

“And then you get expelled.”

Whiiiine.

Rachel just looked down to the TV again, contently endeared, and slowly shook her head.

“No. If she doesn’t, and … she probably won’t … I guess we just have to play her own game against her.”

Chloe hummed.

“Like what?”

Rachel shrugged,

“I’ll think of something dirty pool.”

Chloe hummed again, more flatly.

“Maybe you can get some gossip on her?”

Rachel thought about it.

“I mean … I probably could, but I doubt that would be enough.”

She then blinked.

“Y’know what? Fuck it. Let’s just break into her room and see what kind of embarrassing shit we can find.”

Chloe started to grin.

“Now you’re speaking my language.”

She then sighed loudly,

“Fuck. This is gonna be great. Making that bitch squirm for the shit she pulled.”

Rachel sighed with Chloe, albeit more dreamily and delayed,

“It’ll be perfect …”

As the conversation came to a lull, the movie resumed, but now, they were both thinking about Rachel being in the Tempest again, somehow assured of the idea they could get Victoria to drop this one way or another.

And while Rachel was frankly perfectly happy to think about herself reprising her role …

She wanted Chloe to be there, too, somehow.

Not just in the audience.

Up there, on the stage, sharing all the glory – and especially the amazing feeling, afterwards.

Rachel stole the remote out of a grunting Chloe’s hand to pause the movie again, looking back up at her.

“I want you in the Tempest too, though. I’ll pull strings and get my counter point to drop their role.”

Chloe blinked stupidly, still looking at the paused movie.

“Sounds dumb.”

Rachel groaned and playfully but weakly slapped at some part of Chloe’s hand,

“Don’t say that.”

Chloe grunted again and finally looked down at Rachel, but Rachel decided to turn around with some pain so they could face each other.

She was quiet for a few moments, and Chloe figured she was probably thinking how to convince her of this dumb thing.

Sure enough, soon Rachel bit her lip and placed her hands on Chloe’s still-naked chest, about her shoulders.

“It’s – it’s a part of me, Chloe. Just like you. I want you to be there with me during these big moments, sharing the light with me – feeling all the highs and all the lows … right by my side.”

Chloe sighed more wearily, frowning slightly.

“I’m not an actor, Rachel …”

Rachel nodded with a content smile.

“I can fix that. You’ll learn from the best and – and – it’ll be so awesome when – _ugh_.”

Rachel was knowingly getting ahead of herself and had to take a moment to breathe in deep and recompose, but when she only saw a skeptical Chloe, she hesitated.

While Chloe could plainly understand Rachel’s point of view, the play was dumb, and she’d be a massive dork to participate in it, assuming she could even manage to not embarrass the shit out of herself.

She was never one to take the lime light.

… but maybe that was different, now, around Rachel.

Rachel was her partner in crime.

Maybe this is what that meant …

Either way, Chloe was totally unprepared for when Rachel gently bit her own lip and then,

 

“What would it take to convince you?”

 

And that sort of shot through Chloe.

Rachel really, really wanted this … and she looked so adorable when she was laying there, slightly nervous that Chloe wasn’t going to be able to be convinced to make some magical idea she had in her head materialize.

What _would_ it take, honestly, for Chloe to bother with this …?

 

… well, one thing …

 

Oh.

In front of the entire school.

Chloe closed her eyes and leaned forward until she placed her forehead on Rachel’s.

Rachel imitated automatically, though wasn’t expecting that response.

Chloe took a moment or two further to just appreciate the intimacy, before,

“… how about … a kiss?”

Rachel blinked.

“Oh.”

Oh?

Chloe opened her eyes but unhelpfully just saw Rachel deep in thought, but at least she was thinking about it.

It wasn’t an unreasonable request, right?

Rachel gets what she wants, Chloe gets what she wants.

It all works.

Rachel’s eyes went down to Chloe’s chest.

“… in front of the entire school?”

Chloe just plainly nodded.

“Fuck it. You’re my girlfriend. No point hiding it.”

Rachel scoffed gently, amused.

“Fuck it. You’re my girlfriend. No point hiding it …”

She sounded so endeared, though, and when she looked up, her smile was so genuine.

“Alright. Just for you.”

They both shared the smile, but then Rachel got quite serious-looking.

“But if you want a kiss, you better do _well_. I’ll be keeping track of how many mistakes you make.”

Chloe blinked and predictably whined,

“That’s no fair! I’ll have like … a week to prepare.”

Rachel just smirked.

“It’s plenty fair.”

Chloe frowned.

“Says who?”

Rachel continued to smirk.

“Says me.”

Chloe blinked and her expression softened.

“Oh. That’s –"

Rachel giggled,

“- that’s a good person. I love her.”

They both giggled.

Chloe wasn’t sure about this at all, but … fuck it.

What’s the worst that could happen, so long as Rachel was with her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to split the last chapter up since it was taking a while to get out and getting a bit long, but the next chapter is the last one for realz


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe and Rachel deal with the Tempest.
> 
> And start the rest of their lives - together.

The first day back on campus felt … different.

As Chloe kicked her skateboard up, and Rachel did much the same, she just kinda froze and stared at Blackwell.

It felt like forever ago since she had last been here, when in reality, it was only a week or so, but still – she felt like a totally different person, now, experiencing a totally different place.

Rachel seemed less fazed by the contrast, walking forward and only noticing Chloe was just standing dumbly a few steps too late.

She looked back with a warm smile.

“Hey.”

Chloe’s eyes went from the campus to Rachel, and she just returned the smile.

“Hey.”

Despite whatever weirdness, though, Chloe immediately shook it off and just started after her girlfriend.

 

As much things changed, things stayed the same, though – near the center of the front lawn was a fountain dedicated to some dead dude Chloe didn’t care about, but more saliently, Victoria and some of her friends were sitting on it, doing homework or whatever.

Chloe and Rachel looked to each other.

They had some time.

And Victoria didn’t know who she was dealing with, anymore.

Standing adjacent, arms crossed, and skateboards momentarily discarded, they loomed large over Victoria and her friends until they stopped their activities to look up to the two.

Chloe and Rachel weren’t smiling, and at first, Victoria wasn’t, either, since they all understood their relationship by now.

Victoria’s two little slaves, though … gasped quietly.

“Oh! I’m so happy to see you’re okay, Rachel!”

Thing one spoke, and thing two conferred with a small head nod.

“I was, like, so worried! Gosh.”

They sounded just like Victoria and were probably as fake.

Still, Rachel found the reaction endearing, somehow, and shook her head slightly.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not going anywhere.”

She looked over to Chloe with another smile.

“Right?”

Chloe scoffed and nodded.

“Not so long as I have anything to say about it.”

She uncrossed her arms, looking to the two sycophants.

“Not even the drug dealers around here are match for me – us.”

It was kind of a lie – well, mostly a lie – but somehow Chloe felt completely comfortable saying it and jittering a little on her shoes, relishing in the impressed reaction out of the two girls when they heard the news.

Eventually, though, Victoria just groaned and stood up.

“Enough. I’m –“

She looked to Rachel,

“- _happy_ , to see you’re still among us.”

It read as fake as it should, but it was clear what Victoria’s social circle thought of it all.

Chloe crossed her arms again.

“Uh-huh. We need to talk, Victoria.”

Victoria frowned and crossed her arms herself.

Then, something noticeably clicked, and she smiled out of nowhere, uncrossing her arms even.

“Oh, um – to talk about your time away? Of course.”

Chloe and Rachel blinked, though Rachel easily understood this as an excuse.

Victoria pleasantly looked back to her ‘friends’,

“Excuse us.”

Almost comically, when Victoria looked back to Rachel and Chloe her expression was grim and serious, literally becoming the opposite of what she projected not one second earlier.

Chloe idly wondered if even this serious-looking bitch was the real Victoria, or it was yet another mask she put on.

Either way, the three of them walked out of earshot of Victoria’s friends before Victoria sighed.

“We don’t have much to discuss. I haven’t changed my mind.”

They all turned to face each other, Chloe and Rachel serious, Victoria frowning intently with her arms crossed.

Rachel shook her head.

“Look, Victoria, this is like – your last chance to set things straight. The Tempest is next week.”

Victoria blinked and was quiet for just a second or two, but Rachel sensed that hesitation again and tried to push,

“I know you’re better than this and _don’t_ want to blackmail me. If you just … let me have my role back, I’ll try and … forget about everything. The blackmail, the snooping, the everything.”

She even smiled a little, but in a way that read as forced to the three of them,

“And maybe we could even try to go back to how we were? You _were_ my understudy at some point …”

Victoria looked down for a few moments, clearly considering, while Chloe just looked at Rachel, somewhat unnerved by the forceful manipulation.

Eventually Victoria looked back up and shook her head.

“I’m no fool - there is no going back and pretending like this didn’t happen. And this role is just too important for me; Mr. Keaton is just going to keep casting you with the lead roles.”

Her eyes went down again.

“No matter what I do.”

She looked up, more resolved, crossing her arms with a serious expression.

“So, sorry, but – this is the way it has to be.”

The small, tiny, regrettable mentions of how Victoria thought she would never get a lead role were – something, something probably important and meaningful, but … Chloe.

Chloe just saw Victoria closing up, and that little reveal flew right through her, so she just scoffed.

“We’re not asking, Vic. Either you take the easy way ---”

Chloe brought a fist up to her chest and gently, but pointedly, pounded it against the palm of her other hand,

“--- or the hard way.”

Rachel sighed internally, since while she knew Victoria ought to be intimidated by the larger and more muscular Chloe, especially when Rachel was right here and there’s no way she could reasonably take them both on, that’s not how Victoria responded to threats like that.

Rachel already had learned that, and … maybe should have told that Chloe before they did this.

Instead, Victoria’s entire posture and expression changed with the threat, her serious expression becoming more smug – eyes lidding, lip curling; her posture more comfortable – fingers gently tapping, torso slightly leaned to the side.

“Or you’ll do what, exactly? Punch me? Even you aren’t stupid enough to do that.”

Chloe frowned viscerally, though Victoria looked off to Rachel,

“Especially with your pwecious wittle girwlfwiend. Wouldn’t want to get _her_ in trouble for once, would you?”

At that, Chloe blinked, and Rachel sighed, trying to take one of Chloe’s hands to just comfortingly stroke at it and hold it, gently running her fingers along Chloe’s hand.

And while Chloe of course relaxed at the affection, she was simultaneously enraged and annoyed at Victoria’s attitude.

“Maybe not punch you but – like –“

Chloe slightly jumped up and down on her shoes a bit, despite Rachel steadying her,

“- you don’t even _know_ what I – _we_ \- can do. We’re unstoppable. We’ll ruin you if you go forward like this. Jus’ saying.”

Rachel, meanwhile, was conflicted – normally Chloe standing up for her and this would be flatly and wildly appreciated, and maybe it still was, but …

The more Chloe pushed, the more Victoria dug in, and the less likely the already-remote possibility of this being resolved peacefully became.

Victoria scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Please. I have all the cards here. I’m _bullet-proof_.”

She looked to Rachel, and just barely hesitated before shaking her head and hardening her expression.

“There’s nothing you or your pet could say to me to get me to drop it. So just – go eat clams, or, whatever lesbians do in their free time – away from me.”

Chloe kept frowning, and Rachel finally sighed.

Maybe the only way forward really was playing dirty pool with Victoria; even if she had those moments to think and reconsider, it never really resulted in meaningful concessions, and reminding Victoria about how much of an unfair bitch she was being just caused her to cackle and relish in her control, getting even bitchier and more unreasonable.

Maybe it wouldn’t even be worth the effort to try and convince Victoria, since by the time Rachel _might_ be able to break through, they’d be too close to the Tempest, with simply too little time for Rachel to make everything else happen.

Maybe Victoria was never meant to be convinced.

Maybe the only language she understood was bitchy words and unscrupulously-applied leverage.

 

Rachel could do that.

 

She started walking past Victoria.

“You’ll regret this, Victoria.”

After a few moments, with Chloe just stealing dirty looks at her, Rachel briefly looked back.

“And I meant what I said. We could have been different.”

Victoria did that hesitating thing again before shaking her head, smirking.

 

“C’est la vie. Au revoir.”

  

When they left, though, Victoria sighed and melted a bit.

Whatever.

Maybe some part of her wanted things to be different, but –

That’s just not who she was.

She was Victoria Chase.

And she was going to own this play.

More resolved, she sat her self back down with her friends, but couldn’t help but replay that exchange in her mind over and over again, despite her eyeballs trying to absorb other, unrelated words, on a page.

 

\---

 

Over lunch, Rachel convinced Chloe – with some difficulty – to skip lunch to go check out Victoria’s room.

“You know I never skip lunch, right?”

Rachel sighed with just the smallest bit of irritation, them both now walking in the dorms towards Victoria’s room.

“It may have come up a couple dozen times already.”

Chloe placed her hands on her own belly.

“My tummy is screaming at me.”

Rachel shook her head a little,

“I’ll get you a burger. Afterwards.”

Chloe groaned.

“Get me two.”

Rachel gave her a brief, slightly amused look.

“There’s no way you can eat two burgers back-to-back.”

Chloe scoffed.

“Watch me.”

 

Still, the offer of a burger seemed to placate Chloe well enough, and soon, they were in front of Victoria’s door.

A quick knock ensured she wasn’t home before Chloe took to being useful by picking the lock, and Rachel took to being useful by body-blocking any immediate sight of Chloe doing that and playing lookout.

For some reason, they didn’t want another Eliot seeing what was going on.

Eventually, Chloe picked the lock and stood up.

Rachel hummed thoughtfully.

“That was fast.”

Chloe grinned, a bit.

“All these locks are the same. The more I work on ‘em the better I can do it.”

Rachel’s eyebrow raised.

“That could be useful.”

Chloe eyed at her at this, her grin fading somewhat.

“I mean. Maybe. I don’t mind breaking into Vic’s room.”

She put her tools away and pushed Victoria’s room open,

“Since she’s a bitch.”

The two walked into Victoria’s room, Chloe hooking her hands into her pockets.

“… but anyone else? I don’t know, Rach.”

Rachel just shrugged, smiling some as she walked into Victoria’s room.

It wasn’t actually the first time she had been in here, but she wasn’t in here often at all, and that showed by how different the room looked since the last time she had been in here.

“Oh, it’s fine, Chloe.”

Chloe frowned and idly kicked the door closed while the two started looking around her room.

Rachel took to Victoria’s desk, Chloe half-heartedly looked around her bed and sofa.

She wasn’t really looking, though, since it all was bothering Chloe – the manipulating, the casual idea of just doing this more often.

All this dumb drama.

Eventually, she turned around to face Rachel, looking more serious.

“It’s not fine, Rach. I don’t want to –“

She frowned,

“- I don’t want these adventures. I almost lost you.”

At that, Rachel hesitated and gave a very weary sigh, slowly walking over to Chloe and gently placing her hands on her shoulders, but she just looked at her shoes for a bit.

“We’re not going to go save my birth mother from some sketchy drug dealer, Chloe. We’re just trying to deal with Victoria.”

Her eyes went back up.

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I thought you wanted to, too.”

Chloe bit her lip and slowly nodded, appreciating that Rachel was at least listening and caring about all of this stuff – unlike before.

“Vic is fine. I just – I don’t want to make a habit out of this.”

Rachel thought about it while Chloe’s hands came up and slowly stole Rachel’s, bringing them down to in between them and gently swaying them.

Chloe looked down to them.

“I just want us.”

Rachel, despite it all, smiled pretty warmly at that.

“You’re so cute, sometimes …”

Chloe smiled too.

Then came the sigh, Rachel looking down, too, to their clasped hands.

“We won’t. Maybe the occasional thing, but – I want to spend my time with you, too.”

They both looked up and smiled, and both knew that was another moment … just not now.

But close.

So close they could both taste it.

So close they could both watch each other’s lips twitch, as if instinctually thoughts came to purse them for a kiss.

So close they could watch each other work through the idea of not kissing yet, but clearly thinking about it.

Eventually, the moment passed and they separated, though they searched together thereafter, with Chloe sort of obnoxiously but cutely hugging at Rachel from behind.

Chloe wasn’t honestly paying that much attention to Victoria’s room – only Rachel – but she did notice how expensive everything looked, and how carefully placed everything was, like she cleaned her room every single day or something.

Perhaps like a metaphor for Victoria herself, though, the perfection was just a thin veneer that took only a little bit of effort to peel back; soon Rachel opened one of Victoria’s drawers, and found exactly what she was looking for.

Leverage.

With a small surprised sound Rachel brought up a bottle, and Chloe, making her own curious sound, observed it with her.

“Medication?”

Rachel nodded.

“Looks like it … for anxiety.”

Chloe blinked.

“Not so perfect after all.”

Rachel sighed and shook her head a bit, placing the pill bottle on Victoria’s desk and taking her phone out to take a quick picture of it.

 

“I guess not.”

 

On its own, the pill bottle could probably be used to at least flatten Victoria’s reputation and embarrass her in a pretty damaging way, though Rachel both wasn’t sure she wanted to go that far, or it would even be enough leverage.

Why couldn’t Victoria just see what she was doing was wrong?

At some point or another Victoria _was_ her understudy and while they weren’t amazing friends or anything they could at least talk about stuff – and they had to, for drama.

But if Rachel gossiped about this, or used it to counter Victoria’s leverage, it would almost certainly burn that bridge forever.

C’est la vie, maybe.

 

They quickly went through Victoria’s other drawers and found nothing much else – Rachel was hoping maybe she found find a journal or something – so they soon left the room after putting the pill bottle back where they found it.

 

The new plan was one last last-ditch effort to convince Victoria to drop the role at the last minute with this new leverage, and by reigning both of their attitudes in so Victoria didn’t start closing off.

In the meantime, they went forward with the rest of the plan.

 

Chloe wasn’t an amazing student, but she was trying, especially with the context of her having to learn her first role in just a week.

So long as she didn’t completely bomb and so long as she wasn’t massively uncomfortable on stage, then this all had a shot of working out.

The most difficult thing was just getting her to _act_ out, and not just say the lines as she normally would, which was kind of important.

It wasn’t until Rachel remembered Chloe used to play pirates and got her to act out a pirate again – brushing off any awkwardness or shame associated with acting so dorky – did Chloe really get the picture there, in trying to _act_.

And when she started to, Rachel found it just so cute.

Chloe had some pretty obvious hang-ups about all of this but Rachel was a surprisingly good teacher, and consistently super excited and appreciative that Chloe was going through with this.

Which just made Chloe feel all nice inside.

Rachel’s genuine excitement and the way she couldn’t stop blabbing about how amazing this was going to be really helped soothe over the awkwardness of the whole affair.

And Rachel kept assuring her that no one would dare make fun of Chloe so long as she _tried_.

So Chloe did, eventually.

It wasn’t as bad as she was imagining.

And the smiles and giggles and bravos from Rachel made it all worth it.

They also talked over how exactly they were going to convince Victoria, and Rachel did some research on the drugs Victoria was taking, to see just what kind of leverage she had here.

But for the most part, they didn’t think about her, because they didn’t have to.

They just thought about each other.

 

And their future, together.

 

\---

 

On the day of the Tempest, Victoria was … not coping.

She almost had a damn heart attack when she learned this was going to be taped and her father wanted to see it – but – of course he did.

This had to go _perfectly_ or she’d never hear the end of this.

Maybe she should have never forced Rachel into dropping the role.

Rachel could handle it easily, probably.

Of course _she_ would.

Victoria was so stupid to think she could just replace her.

No – ugh.

Victoria recognized the spiraling and her little nervous fidgets like how her feet and fingers kept on tapping, and decided she needed more help to calm herself.

She opened her pill bottle and took a dose with a weary sigh, hating the fact that she even needed these things to begin with.

She was Victoria Chase.

She should be better than this.

She could be like Rachel, if only she tried enough.

She _had_ to.

Failure was not an option.

After a few moments and realizing that she wasn’t going to get any more meaningful cramming done before the play started in some minutes, she decided to leave the women’s changing room and go find someone to talk to.

Stepping out, she saw all the various critters rushing around like the little insects they were, clawing and prying and skittering to do their mostly unimportant tasks.

Victoria wasn’t interested in them and coldly made her way through the camp with her arms crossed.

Well … she was, a little.

One such critter was Chloe, who by some might or miracle actually took up Juliet’s old role.

Juliet was supposed to be her counterpart, which was fine, since Victoria could deal and work with her easily enough, even if she was something of a huge snoop.

But for whatever reason, she dropped her role, and for reasons Victoria still didn’t understand, Chloe took it up.

Nothing about it made sense.

Especially now, with Chloe and Rachel talking before the play, all casually like nothing was suspicious as hell about this – Victoria saw right through it.

She just couldn’t quite figure out why the effort was made if Rachel still wasn’t in the play.

Maybe Chloe was going to intentionally bomb as revenge?

‘If I can’t have this role, no one can?’

Ugh.

That sounded like some sitcom shit Victoria would try to pull as a last resort.

Victoria shook her head, mostly self-assured that Rachel … probably wasn’t going to stoop to that level, given her genuine interest in acting the drama club and all, and completed her tour by stopping in front of the men’s changing section.

She had her phone out.

_hey were r u i wanna talk_

But … no response.

Sigh.

There’s no way he was still dressing, right?

The play was -

Victoria suddenly saw Nathan’s father, a man that reminded her way too much to her own, all sharp and uncaring with eyes as lifeless and glassy as anyone could make it, appear from the side of the tent that had been propped up to serve as the impromptu changing room.

She arched an eyebrow, but he didn’t meet her gaze, simply calmly strutting back to where the general audience was seated.

Her phone vibrated.

_fuk im so done wit this shit_

Victoria didn’t need much more to put two and two together, sighing again, this time more wearily.

She walked over to where Mr. Prescott had just left and, sure enough, found Nathan in the little alleyway such created, pathetically hunched over with his head buried in his hands.

It was unfortunately too familiar to Victoria, or at least, too familiar to a younger version of her, who had to deal with her father constantly.

She bit her lip as she gently walked up to Nathan.

Nathan heard her and tore his hands off to see who it was, immediately making his expression harsh and tough and standing up straight and posturing to be aggressive-looking, but it was painfully transparent with the redness of his eyes and obvious signs of earlier distress.

Plus, it was a façade that he immediately dropped when he saw it was Victoria, instead relaxing considerably and just barely smiling, despite everything.

“Oh. H-hey, V …”

Victoria smiled a little, too.

“Hey.”

But they had no more immediate words, and Nathan’s mind was still stuck in the gear it had been forcibly shifted into, so in a few seconds, both of their expressions died in the stillness, and Nathan looked down again.

“I’m so fucked. This is so – I can’t – he’s going to –“

Victoria shook her head a little, taking one step closer.

For the most part, being emotionally available to others was not an easy thing for Victoria, both out of that shit simply being trained out of her, and that sort of weakness being something that people like Rachel ruthlessly exploited whenever it was shown.

But for some reason, it came easily with Nathan.

Maybe it’s because of how similar he was; he didn’t even need to explain that his dad had just tore him a new one about expectations that he had to meet – Victoria had already been there, done that, and saw the obvious fingerprints it left.

Either way, she took the otherwise-uncomfortable step of uncrossing her arms and comfortingly placing her hand on Nathan’s shoulder, and he shuddered a miserable thinking, looking to her hand and her comfort before back up to her eyes.

He stopped ranting and just barely smiled again, and so did Victoria.

They did the same thing of not really saying much for a few seconds, their eyes both wandering down or away or such, but eventually Victoria cleared her throat and forced the words out, since even if she was anxious about everything herself, she somehow found the confidence in the context of helping Nathan.

“It’s fine. We’re going to fucking own this play and your dad will never give you shit about drama again.”

Nathan shuddered another comfortable pained sigh, but his eyes went to Victoria again anyway.

“You … think so?”

Victoria smiled, then it became something more smug and more of a smirk.

“I _know_ so. You’re Nathan fucking Prescott. You own this school.”

Nathan reciprocated.

“I’m … Nathan fucking Prescott. I own this school.”

The two shared their expression for a few seconds, simply enjoying the moment, then Nathan sighed and looked down briefly.

“Thanks, V. I needed that.”

And while Victoria could emotionally understand him and help him, it still proved difficult for Victoria to fully connect, for whatever fucked reasons her damage kept her from it.

So she just hesitated, not wanting to say anything genuine – like that he could always get this reassurance when he needed it, that he was a good friend and that’s what friends do, nothing like that.

Instead, Victoria took her hand off and crossed her arms again, remaining smug-looking.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t expect me to kick your ass every time you get moody, you little baby.”

Nathan scoffed and understood it as the sort-of joke it was, smirking in return, but feeling slightly rebuffed.

But it didn’t surprise him.

This was just who they were.

“’course. Not like I’d even _want_ to go to you, you bitch.”

Victoria scoffed, too, but her expression didn’t change.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Now – let’s go, already. Enough mushy shit.”

Nathan sighed and his expression evened out.

“Yeah.”

With that, Victoria turned and started her trademark power walk again, and Nathan hesitated.

Sometimes, he wanted to tell Victoria she didn’t need to do that.

She could just be genuine with him, like she was whenever _she_ was helping _him_.

Victoria was the last person on campus Nathan would ever judge for being vulnerable, and admitting they were friends, and that they appreciated what they did for each other.

But - what the fuck did he know about girls?

Maybe this is just how women and men interacted.

Rachel certainly kept him at arm’s length, no matter how hard he tried there.

Maybe it just was like his dad said.

You can’t understand women.

You can only deal with them.

Whateverthefuck.

Either way, Nathan pushed himself off the wall and caught up to Victoria.

 

\---

 

As the play drew closer and closer, Chloe and Rachel talked comfortably backstage, in the little impromptu camp created for the prep.

But weirdly, Rachel didn’t seem anxious at all about the play, or their chances to get Victoria to drop her role.

Chloe certainly was, but there was more to it, too.

 

Chloe kept on thinking about the kiss.

 

She found her eyes longing and lingering on Rachel’s lips, she found it sometimes difficult to hear what Rachel was saying due to idle daydreaming, sometimes even completely blanking when Rachel asked her something and Chloe just awkwardly restarted her brain to answer it.

It was only now did Chloe really appreciate just how bad she had it for Rachel.

But in that acknowledgement, Chloe realized something – even something as bullshit as the play would be fun so long as Rachel was around.

So long as Chloe could make her happy and feel loved.

That’s really what it came down to, wasn’t it?

It sort of washed away the greater anxieties about the play and her performance, since all she really had to do was make Rachel happy, and she knew how to do that by now.

She wondered if that sort of thing could carry her through her entire life …

 

Eventually, the show was set to start soon, and Chloe and Rachel split up – for once – to go talk to others of their own accord.

If Chloe had done this a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to, really …

But things had, of course, changed so much with Rachel around.

Steph was pretty busy behind stage since she was doing one of those nerdy stagecraft things – lights, or something, Chloe didn’t really pay attention no matter how often it was explained to her – but she still gave a little encouragement to Chloe and compliment her relationship with Rachel.

Mr. Keaton, and the rest of the drama class for that matter, did a complete 180 on how they treated Chloe now that she was in the play, and she was trying.

It was so strange to see Hayden and all of them actually listen to her and acknowledge her as a person, and care about her opinions and what she had to say, though she had no clue if it was because of how _she_ changed, or if it was something to do with Rachel again.

Eliot, of all people, even appeared, to wish Chloe well, apologize for the weirdness between them, and say he was happy that Chloe and Rachel were a thing.

Chloe wasn’t sure if they were ever going to be capital F Friends anymore, but …

It felt nice.

Things weren’t awkward between them, for once.

Eliot even joked about how gay Chloe must be for Rachel for her to get Chloe involved in drama, which she laughed at – and it reminded her of old times with him, when they could talk easily about anything.

That felt nice, too …

 

Eventually, Chloe and Rachel reunited in front of the women’s changing tent.

Rachel turned to face Chloe.

“Ready for your biggest performance of the night?”

Chloe sighed and crossed her arms, shaking her head a little.

“Ugh. I’ve been thinking.”

Rachel blinked.

“Uh-oh.”

She crossed her arms herself, and Chloe hesitated a bit.

“Today … Vic actually managed to compliment me a little. She’s been weirdly nice ever since I took this role.”

Rachel sighed.

“Probably out of necessity. She was ‘nice’ to me when she was my understudy, and we see how well that worked out.”

Chloe groaned.

“I know, I know … I just.”

Rachel looked at Chloe seriously but with a small smile,

“You’re getting cold feet.”

Chloe nodded, not at all surprised Rachel understood that.

“This is just … man. Lying to her face like that – manipulating her. I liked it better when I thought she was just a heartless bitch and nothing else. Then doing this shit felt fine.”

Rachel sighed pretty wearily.

She frankly didn’t have the time to reconvince Chloe of the plan – and she was _pretty_ sure Chloe had been convinced enough already in the week they’ve been formulating their plan.

So maybe just a quick reiteration was in order.

“I know – but – that’s why we’re doing _this_ instead of ruining her reputation.”

Chloe had certainly heard this spiel before but didn’t mind it being repeated.

Rachel continued.

“Here, she just sleeps for a bit and wakes up unharmed. Everything else … well.”

Rachel shook her head.

“Anything else is a lot more permanent.”

They both frowned for a few seconds.

Rachel bit her lip.

“And she’s not going to listen to reason, being nice to you earlier or no. You know that.”

Chloe sighed.

“Yeah.”

But she knew Rachel was right.

She uncrossed her arms and looked towards the tent.

“… alright.”

Victoria would be unharmed.

They did their research.

They planned everything meticulously.

This was the best possible way forward.

 

Entering the changing rooms, Chloe looked around and easily found Victoria, sitting down and reciting lines.

After just one more moment of hesitation and reassuring look from Rachel, Chloe cleared her throat.

She projected her voice.

“Hey, Victoria.”

Victoria paused and after a second or two of hesitation looked to Chloe.

“… yes?”

Chloe crossed her arms.

“Can you come here? I want to talk to you about the play.”

Victoria sighed.

“This is an awful time but – okay.”

This was the easiest part, since even with their awful relationship, Victoria would definitely want to make sure Chloe would do her best as her counterpart.

Victoria got up, crossed her arms, and walked in front of Chloe.

Rachel initiated step two.

“I’ll go get your thing, Clo. Give you two a moment.”

Victoria watched her go for a few moments but thankfully her eyes went back to Chloe soon.

“What is it?”

Slightly annoyed, but surprisingly restrained.

She must be in a good mood.

Chloe kept her eyes on Victoria to not invite her to look behind herself, where Rachel quickly moved from Chloe’s prep area to Victoria’s.

This is the part that was going to suck the most, but … ugh.

Chloe sighed and softened up her expression.

“I just want to say, working with you this past week … I think I was wrong about you. You’re … alright.”

Victoria blinked, clearly surprised and not knowing how to handle that.

“I …”

It took her a few moments to work through how to respond, though her face wore the shock pretty nakedly.

“… wasn’t expecting that.”

Chloe nodded.

“Yeah, I get that, totally. If you had told me I’d actually like you a little after everything I’d have said you’re full of shit.”

Victoria blinked a couple more times, slowly shaking her head.

“I – wow. Even with all the – y’know, Rachel situation?”

Chloe sighed more wearily and frowned slightly, appropriately.

“I mean – I’m not happy about that stuff, but all things considered …”

She slowly mellowed out her expression,

“… this allowed Rachel to focus on training me up, instead of splitting our attention. And … I’ve seen you act.”

Chloe slightly smiled,

“I know you’re going to do a great job. This play is going to fucking bang.”

Victoria gasped.

“Oh, Chloe!”

Before either knew what was happening, Victoria moved forward and wrapped her arms around in a surprisingly tight hug that Chloe kept her hands free from participating in.

“Thank you so much. I’m so happy to hear this …”

When the shock of _Victoria hugging her_ wore off, Chloe … started to feel really guilty.

Even if this was _Victoria_ , her eyes went to Rachel over by Victoria’s stuff, messing with her cup of – something.

She knew what was happening.

She knew Rachel was poisoning it with some of Victoria’s medication.

Just enough to overdose her – and apparently, as a result, she would pass out, at least according to the research Rachel did.

The perfect crime, since it would look like Victoria did it to herself, accidentally, and wake up unharmed, at that.

Just a little sleep.

But - when Victoria woke up, she would probably put two and two together and know this was fake, and that Chloe had intentionally duped her, and that Rachel intentionally drugged her.

And she seemed so genuinely happy and relieved here, like she wanted honestly to be her and Rachel’s friend, somehow, even after all of this …

Fuck.

As Rachel gave her the all clear sign and walked back to Chloe’s prep area, Chloe knew it was too late to back down so any thoughts like that were pointless, but she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some universe where this worked out … better.

Maybe Chloe was just being dumb.

Maybe Chloe was reading too much into Victoria’s reaction.

Maybe it was, itself, an act, just like Chloe, for whatever game Victoria wanted to play.

Chloe couldn’t even imagine what game that could possibly further, but it made her feel better as a rationalization.

Eventually, Victoria separated, and smiled gently.

“I’m sure this will go great, too. You’ve really come a long way lately.”

At that, Victoria actually earned a genuine reaction with Chloe scoffing a bit.

The playfulness came before she could help it.

“Putting it mildly, Chase.”

Victoria smirked and placed one of her hands on her own waist line.

“Perhaps so. At least you don’t look like a charity case in Rachel’s clothes.”

Chloe scoffed, again.

“Excuse me?”

Victoria just smirked.

“You heard me. She even makes you a little cute sometimes. It’s impressive.”

Chloe blinked, genuinely shocked, but this just amused Victoria, who giggled and turned back to go back to her stuff.

“The show is starting soon. Don’t stand there like a fish with your mouth gaping. We have a show to _destroy_.”

As Rachel walked back to Chloe, she worked through her shock, but that unfortunately only left the guilt.

“… yeah. Of course, Vic.”

The two of them went back to Chloe’s prep area and just waited.

It didn’t take long for Victoria’s poisoned tea to take its effect on her, and for them to hear her collapsing on her work area.

Rachel went to go get Mr. Keaton and probably the nurse, and Chloe decided to not tag along for once.

Mostly so she could just stand over Victoria’s passed-out body, ostensibly making sure she was okay, but mostly wondering if this is what good people do.

But that guilt started to wane when she remembered just what Victoria did, and all the needless suffering she put them both through.

Chloe couldn’t just forgive or forget about that blackmail.

She was just being dumb and sentimental, earlier.

Victoria didn’t deserve any empathy.

She was probably just playing her, too, just as fake as she had always been.

Just like Victoria said – Victoria was ‘nice’ to Rachel as her understudy, until she wasn’t.

After deciding it wasn’t genuine, Chloe went to her bag, took out her sharpie, and went back to Victoria.

Victoria didn’t deserve her empathy.

She deserved a reminder of why she shouldn’t fuck with people like this.

 

It’d been a while since Chloe had done any graffiti.

 

\---

 

After trying and failing to wake up Victoria, Mr. Keaton easily took Rachel’s offer up for her to reprise her role.

But here was the first unintended consequence – Mr. Keaton wouldn’t be able to leave Victoria alone until she woke up or more help arrived.

He wouldn’t see Rachel or Chloe’s performance, or be able to appreciate all the work he put into this play.

Rachel was too busy running back into the changing rooms to change into her outfit to linger, but Chloe had nothing else to do while Rachel was occupied.

Who knows what else might happen now that Victoria had been drugged …

Chloe kept thinking about it, finding herself perfectly conflicted as to whether or not she could be okay with what she had done.

Maybe it was better than blackmail ruining her, or even physically assaulting her, but …

Ugh.

Maybe the worst part was how Chloe manipulated Victoria.

For some reason, even though it was _Victoria_ , she couldn’t help but imagine the roles being reversed, and Victoria taking advantage of what little trust Chloe gave her to do something regrettable.

And Rachel did this somewhat regularly?

 

Chloe’s deep thought was interrupted by the show starting, and her needing to go do her role – or at least watch for a bit until she had a part to play.

It became easier to take her mind off of thorny moral questions by watching Nathan’s terrible, awkward performance.

Little did she know how direct a cause she was for it; unbuoyed now that Victoria was out of the play, there was little comfort he had whenever his father looked at him disapprovingly.

 

At least everyone else was doing an alright job.

 

Chloe got an even bigger distraction later, when the first time Rachel walked out onto the stage and –

Just everything about her was gorgeous.

Chloe was literally speechless, gaping her maw like the gay idiot she was at her beautiful girlfriend.

But Rachel’s beauty was not simply in the deft touch applied to her costume or especially creative makeup applied, or even the natural lines and curves of her body.

It was in the mastery she had on the stage.

It was the way every movement she made was graceful, controlled, thoughtful.

It was the way every syllable came out fluid and loud, confident and proud.

It was the way she stole sneaky looks over to Chloe from time to time.

It was the way she smiled for just those briefest of moments before returning to her appropriate gesture for the scene.

Chloe crossed her arms and just couldn’t take her eyes off of Rachel, smiling like the biggest dork with her eyes all dreamily lidded.

It felt like the world around them didn’t even matter, anymore.

 

And finally, when it was time for Chloe to join her, she realized there wasn’t any anxiety about the stage.

 

Surely illogical but – with Rachel there …

Chloe confidently walked out.

The bright, hot lights of the set didn’t matter.

The probably too-many people watching her and judging her for any mistake didn’t matter.

The way the set made a little creaking sound whenever she stepped on it didn’t matter.

Only Rachel did.

It felt like Chloe was suddenly sharing that magical energy Rachel had about her in this stage mastery – she delivered her lines well and voluble, remembering little tricks Rachel had taught her about how to get the inflictions and delivery right, and especially how to project her voice.

And even though this might have impressed the wider audience, Chloe was really only doing this for an audience of one, and as Rachel watched her equally-beautiful girlfriend absolutely nail her lines, she knew what a good idea this all was.

 

There was only one part of the play that Rachel was nervous about.

 

Scenes with Chloe came and went until the important one.

The one Rachel had made changes to.

The one where Chloe would get her kiss.

 

The start of the scene played out exactly the same.

But then, Rachel went off-script.

“Spirit! Come to me.”

Her heart skipped a beat but it didn’t show.

For once, Chloe’s perfect performance cracked a little with Chloe trying to remember what her line should have been, but nothing came to mind.

Still – the lights were on her.

Her audience of one was paying attention.

Chloe tried to think of something.

 

“Uh – of course, mighty Prospera.”

 

Chloe stepped up to Rachel, trying to read in her face or body language what was going on.

Rachel suddenly stuck her hand out, which Chloe knew for a _fact_ was nowhere in the script, and it suddenly clicked that Rachel was _intentionally_ doing this.

… which meant only one thing …

 

Chloe took her hand.

Rachel looked down at it, then stomped her staff on the ground.

“Were I to ramble forever I would yet equally never exhaust the things I could say positively about you.”

She looked up, smiling, and Chloe did too.

“You’re funny, brave, kind, resourceful, imaginative… loyal.”

Rachel’s expression became more serious.

“Loyal to the extent that I cannot abide anything short of your total freedom from my servitude, going forward.”

Chloe blinked.

Rachel was clearly expecting her to say something but it’s not like she had a script to work off of, anymore …

Fuck it.

Chloe stopped thinking about it and just said what she wanted to.

“I don’t want to be free of you – I only want you. Eternal servitude or – or not.”

Rachel hesitated herself, not quite expecting Chloe to go in that direction.

… to the point she had to kinda ignore it, since – well, she had a lot planned out.

“I – I am yet shown more evidence of your never ending loyalty and –“

Rachel shook her head to try and refocus.

“- as I said. I cannot abide anything less than total freedom – so –“

She waved the staff in front of Chloe, then smiled.

“- it is done. You are free to haunt whatever grounds you want to.”

Chloe bit her lip.

“Thank you – but – what about us? What point is freedom without you?”

Rachel still wasn’t planning on Chloe going this all out but – maybe she should have.

… since that was what Rachel was planning, too.

Of course, they thought the same way on how to improvise this …

The thought just had her smiling so wide.

“Of course, I contest not your ability to continue to be with me – I only contest you be my servant. We are now equals.”

Chloe kinda fidgeted a bit,

“So no more dangerous trails?”

If there was any pretense about this _not_ being about _their_ relationship and not anything to do with the play, it was gone.

Once again, Chloe continued to impress Rachel, and she had to come up with her response on the spot, which should have been annoying since this was all planned out, but … how perfect was it that Chloe caused her to have to change her plans because what she offered just obsoleted it.

“No more. But – if you aspire to use your freedom to be with me – then – then – there is something I would ask of you.”

Chloe blinked.

“And - what? Uh – would that be?”

Rachel put her staff down to take Chloe’s hand into both of hers and squeezed it tightly.

“I would wish to repay your loyalty and affection the only way I know how – by returning it, every day, for the rest of my life.”

Chloe gasped.

If they were talking about their relationship did that – was that a proposal?

Chloe had to know more, even if the thought was starting to make her feel really anxious, and she unconsciously bounced on her toes a bit,

“The – the, the rest of your life?”

  


[("Arrows" - Haux)](https://open.spotify.com/track/4QcDhDJkTBRjv4hNXtftcf?si=Pcs0tTBHQ-u9DKkoWxiEpQ)

  


Rachel smiled so wide and fucking _kneeled_ down, in case the proposal metaphor wasn’t clear enough, and quietly looked down to Chloe’s hand for a bit.

“Yes. You have no idea how much you mean to me. How much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Words are fleeting things and I could stray tomorrow but – I wish to do action.”

She looked up to Chloe, and there was just – just something about the way she smiled here.

How genuine and warm, sunny it was.

How the sweat combined with some of the matte in her makeup.

The little slight nervous twitching in her eyes.

But mostly, how affectionate it all seemed.

“I will _prove_ to you I am willing to repay all that what you’ve done for the rest of my life – by binding our souls together. Forever.”

Chloe just kinda gaped her mouth stupidly for a bit.

“… holy shit.”

This really was a proposal …

Rachel …

Rachel wasn’t expecting the complete shock and non-response and didn’t quite know what to do about it – she looked down, at Chloe’s feet, a little nervously, like maybe she had gone too far.

“I – I would understand you not taking me up on it. But – hear me out, dearest spirit.”

She looked back up, trying to recover with another smile, though Chloe just dumbly looked down at her, still shocked.

“I --- I’m listening … I guess … god …”

Rachel bit her lip.

“Separate, our energies have a wonderful glow that resonate so strongly, yet combined, there would be no match for the sheer power of our force. Not even reality itself could resist bending to our will.”

Chloe just blinked.

“… yeah …”

It came out so dreamily, which Rachel still didn’t know how to handle, but was starting to read it as a positive thing, since it meant Chloe seriously understood what Rachel was really doing here.

Still, she continued.

“No mountain we can’t climb, no challenge too great, no storm too strong, no foe too foreboding … we will see the entire world, together, and I will - ”

 Rachel’s eyes flicked to the side briefly,

“- _never_ , stop repaying my debt from your servitude - until I breathe no more.”

She bit her lip again when Chloe just didn’t say anything.

“… would you have me? On that condition? Forever?”

Once again, her eyes went down to Chloe’s face, as if scared of seeing some sort of rejection so late, but when they came back up … Chloe was smiling.

So wide.

So warm.

So genuine.

She nodded.

“Yeah – forever. I mean it, too.”

Rachel couldn’t help a giggle even if inappropriate to her character, though as she got up Chloe helped by tugging her up –

They kinda collided together, and for just that second, they stared at each other, as total equals, now committed – blushing a little, but unable to look away from each other’s eyes.

But then Rachel smirked.

But then Rachel tugged her close.

But then She closed her eyes, leaned in with her face, puckered her lips a bit –

Chloe helplessly stood there as Rachel’s lips connected with hers.

It was such a simple, quick thing, and Rachel separated as soon as she connected to pull away and look at Chloe, but Chloe already felt herself breathing way more heavily.

Chloe literally couldn’t move.

“Rachel –“

It came out a breathless sort of thing, heated and impassioned, yet –

Rachel just smirked and leaned her face back in, seemingly satisfied with her ability to completely freeze Chloe like this.

Only now – this wasn’t a kiss.

Rachel’s goddamn tongue went into her mouth.

Her hands went up to her shoulders to delicately place themselves there and –

Chloe _still_ couldn’t do anything.

Her mind was just so hyper-focusing on the kiss, on the gentle sounds only she could hear that Rachel was making, on the sensation of Rachel’s hands on her costume and her warmth so nearby in a way that was familiar yet so totally different, so suddenly intoxicating and overwhelming.

Everything Rachel touched was on fire on Chloe’s skin – electric, stimulating, overbearing.

But loving.

Caring.

In as much as the initial kiss was clearly the playful sort of thing Chloe might have expected Rachel early in their relationship to do – this lingering was different.

Rachel was giving Chloe _everything_ she had, all at once, and while initially overwhelming, Chloe slowly regained control of herself.

Her tongue became an active participant – for one.

She closed her eyes and worked entirely on impulse, her hands coming to touch Rachel’s sides, and for some reason the completely explored territory felt new and virgin, just as exciting and overwhelming as everything else.

Now, with even her eyes closed, Chloe really could completely forget she was on stage.

Her audience of one enjoyed her performance, and this was her reward.

Soon, Chloe started to push into Rachel herself and heard a gentle moan, though from whom she wasn’t sure.

It didn’t last forever, with Rachel being mindful she _was_ on stage on a _school_ production, but she absolutely needed Chloe to understand this affection she felt for her.

Just one kiss wasn’t enough to express it.

Rachel needed to keep giving it until she was breathless and her lips were numb and her jaw ached from being open for so long, but that would be for later.

When she pulled away and dreamily opened her eyes to look at Chloe, she was the most beautiful woman on the planet to her eyes – and she was _hers_.

And now, the entire school knew just how much affection she felt for her.

And it wasn’t anxiety-inducing – anymore.

 

Rachel felt fucking invincible.

 

Even if it took Chloe a few seconds to reboot and remember herself, which Rachel found endlessly endearing.

By chance, Rachel’s eyes caught of an otherwise normal glimpse of white off in the distance, and for whatever reason her eyes went to it, as though they were compelled to by some force of nature.

She gasped a little, her otherwise flawless stage façade broken, when she saw Sera, way off behind the rest of the crowd.

And she had a small moment to blush more than she already was and briefly look down but smiled.

But she somehow felt even _better_ , afterwards.

 

Despite Nathan slumming it, the rest of the play still went by fantastically.

Chloe never stopped giving her moon eyes, and Rachel never stopped returning them when she could.

After the play and they did their bowing and accepted their applause Rachel stole Chloe away – and Chloe started walking with Rachel by placing her hand on Rachel’s opposite side and tugging her into her side that way – they moved quick to change and hopefully find Sera again.

 

Thankfully, she had the same idea.

 

Sera’s white dress made it easier to find her after they got into their street clothes and walked past the general audience.

Chloe and Rachel kinda blew off everyone on the way to her, all their congratulations, all the compliments –

They weren’t important.

And for once, Rachel wasn’t leading Chloe somewhere blindly – they were walking together, towards a common goal, snuggled together even in the most obvious way.

 

When they reached Sera, they realized that Frank was there, too.

“Hey, kids.”

Sera didn’t have words, just endlessly warm sunny smiles.

Rachel, likewise, didn’t have any words – she broke away from Chloe to go and fly into Sera, almost tackling her with a giggly hug.

Sera accepted this of course with her own content sounds while Frank and Chloe watched, smiling themselves.

Afterwards, Rachel separated from Sera and just couldn’t contain herself – she spun around, poetically, arms outstretched with yet more giggles.

“This is the best night of my life!”

Chloe couldn’t help her smile.

Sera sighed contently.

“I will never have the words to be able to adequately describe how proud I am of you.”

Frank kind of awkwardly shrugged.

“Uh – yeah, what she said.”

Rachel stopped her twirling after this to take both of Chloe’s hands into her own and beam at Sera and Frank.

“I’m so happy you two made it. I’m so happy Chloe did her part – I’m so – argh!”

Chloe kept getting endeared at how overjoyed Rachel was, but wanted to reign her in just a little – so she tugged Rachel closer – who squeaked cutely in her surprise – and then got behind her to wrap her arms around her in that tight, protective manner she so enjoyed.

They both looked up to Sera and Frank while Rachel lovingly stroked Chloe’s arms with her hands.

Sera smiled and nodded.

“When you have people who mean things to you, you can earn this sort of satisfaction. But only if you work on it.”

Sera’s somewhat sobering message, however, was no match for Rachel’s impossibly bouncy and buoyant mood.

Rachel looked off to Frank.

“Yeah yeah – hey, Frank?”

Frank blinked, crossing his arms, but he was still smiling.

“Yeah, kiddo?”

Rachel smiled, too.

“Can you drive us to the beach? Down like – south a little bit more? The quieter parts? Where no one will be?”

Frank scoffed.

“Do I look like a taxi to you?”

But he was still smiling, and the objection wasn’t _too_ serious.

Either way, Sera looked to him.

“The beach does sound pretty nice, right now …”

Rachel just beamed.

“It’s my first date with Chloe.”

This was news to Chloe, who blinked uselessly with a blush, but obviously didn’t object.

Sera gasped and quickly looked back to them, seeming excited beyond her years suddenly.

Frank found himself relenting again with a sigh.

 

“… alright, alright. Come on.”

 

The first date of the rest of their lives.

 

They all got into the RV and drove off to the beach – not just to the nearest part of it, but south a bit more, where it was usually calm and serene and empty.

Frank liked going there sometimes to help unwind, so it was a familiar route.

Even as they parked and Chloe and Rachel left the RV to go walk on the beach, Rachel remained quiet and calm, mostly just thinking about … everything. All at once.

That was okay, since all Chloe needed out of this was to hold her hand and gently sway it while they walked along the edge of the water.

When they had walked until the RV was almost out of sight, Rachel sighed and turned to face Chloe.

They sort of automatically came together, stepping in close without words or indications, embracing each other.

Chloe found her hands on Rachel’s sides pretty easily, and Rachel’s on Chloe’s chest.

But even still – they just stared at each other, at each other’s eyes, at their love.

Even though Chloe was right here and Rachel could do basically anything she wanted to her, she openly fantasized about how their dates might happen in the future – what they might do, what they might see.

No matter how she envisioned her life, Chloe was there – and maybe she was always.

Chloe stared plainly down at Rachel with similar stillness and affection, wondering along pretty similar things herself.

But then she realized she was being stupid, squeezed Rachel and just quickly kissed her.

Rachel giggled but of course returned the kiss, then just sighed dreamily.

“… fuck. We really did it, didn’t we …?”

Chloe nodded and closed her eyes, placing her forehead on Rachel’s and just moving her arms up to squeeze her some more.

“Destroyed that play …”

Rachel sighed distantly again, smiling so wide, but also closing her eyes as Chloe got near.

“You have no idea how happy I am we went through with that.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, despite them being closed.

“Because you _definitely_ haven’t spent a week telling me …”

Rachel giggled again and stole a kiss and fuck it just felt so freeing she could just do that whenever she wanted to.

“But I’m happy I didn’t just like – force you into it. That you agreed to do it. To make me happy.”

Chloe sighed, a little.

“Well I certainly can’t argue with the results …”

They kissed again, then pulled away just enough to look at each other again.

Chloe found her eyes on Rachel’s lips but comforted herself with the knowledge those were hers to kiss whenever she wanted to, now.

They just lingered with the probably shared thought for a few quiet moments, then Chloe’s eyes went off to the sunset.

Rachel had brought along a beach towel since – apparently – Frank just had these in his RV, which was convenient to say the least, but she unfurled that now so that they could sit down on it and look out to the sun and sea, sitting right next to each other.

It was so nice and relaxing that all they needed to do was play handsie – like footsie, but they kept trying to out-power the other and end up with their hand on top, being the one delivering affection.

Eventually, though, Chloe looked to Rachel.

“Hey Rach …”

Rachel hummed a questioning noise and flicked her eyes to Chloe.

Chloe bit her lip.

“… you were serious about all of that, right?”

Rachel sort of rolled her eyes and placed her head on her shoulder.

 

“Yes. I’m convinced of it – you’re my soulmate, Chloe.”

 

She let it hang in the air for a few moments, having said it confidently and loudly, but then closed her eyes and relaxed some.

“I love you.”

This didn’t come out confidently or loudly, but rather, softly and gently.

The kisses and the show was her big showy proclamation of love – this was merely gentle reinforcement.

Chloe giggled and blushed but accepted Rachel onto her shoulder all the same.

“I love you too.”

To what extent this was love, Chloe didn’t know.

It’s not like anyone told her about this shit, or even if they had, it’s not like she would have listened.

But if this wasn’t love, then what could it be?

If this feeling of intense security and admiration and care and respect wasn’t, then what could it be?

If it wasn’t the way Chloe imagined every step of her life involving Rachel from now on, then what could it be?

If it wasn’t the way they cared for and sanded down the rough edges of their personalities, then what could it be?

No.

Chloe didn’t know what love was, but she knew she loved Rachel.

And Rachel loved her.

That’s all Chloe needed.

Soon, they laid down on the oversized blanket and started to gently make out.

As the sun set and the stars started to appear, their affections became more emphatic and sexual.

They were basically alone but didn’t want to get completely naked anyway – just in case.

When their touches finally became explicit, Chloe kinda stopped – weirdly – and asked if this was okay and Rachel wanted it, but Rachel found it endearing and of course was into this – everything about this.

And her first time wasn’t the sexiest thing she could have imagined; Chloe was a bit awkward when she was finally allowed to touch in the ways she’d been fantasizing for so long, and although Rachel was a bit less awkward, but she didn’t really know what she was doing.

They eventually found something that worked for them, after that bit of awkwardness and uncertainty, and it immediately became an unforgettable experience, the delay to it now perfectly justified.

When all was said and done they laid down side by side and snuggled, looking up at the stars.

With that last barrier of their relationship gone, this kind of snuggling now involved some occasional sexual touch or tease as well, which was plainly fine as they cooled down, still all hot and heavy.

Eventually, when they could breathe more lightly, Chloe sighed contently.

 

“Fuck. That was fun.”

Rachel smirked and looked over to her.

“Fuck, indeed.”

Chloe looked to Rachel too and they both giggled, rubbing their foreheads against each other with a few more little kisses and affectionate touches.

Chloe hesitated after a bit of that.

“Was I um, any good?”

Rachel smiiiiiirked.

God Chloe being like that was adorable.

“Nah. You were _terrible_. I need a new girlfriend.”

Chloe blinked then groaned, rolling her eyes.

“I think I do too.”

But then they both giggled, enjoying how they could just be playful after all of that like it was no big deal – and more little kisses came.

“I love you, Chloe.”

They then got stuck in a sort of loop, telling each other that over and over, but eventually settled on the fact that they both loved each other equally and looked up at the stars, again.

“Fuck. That was so good I think I’m seeing stars …”

Rachel giggled and turned onto her side so she could melt her body into Chloe’s side, looking up with her to the stars while Chloe wrapped an arm around and accepted her there.

“There’s a lot more where that came from.”

Chloe huffed and looked over a bit to place a quick but loving kiss on Rachel.

“There better be. I want to find out _everything_ I can do to you …”

Rachel hummed happily and sighed, closing her eyes and settling more down into Chloe.

Just smelling her.

Feeling her.

Enjoying her.

“Even with all of those stars out there … There’s no place I’d rather be than here. With you.”

Chloe hummed contently.

“Not even LA?”

Rachel got up a bit just to look very seriously at Chloe.       

But then she smiled.

“Not even LA.”

At least for now.

Rachel still didn’t know how long she could last here, but … seeing Chloe smile like that, knowing how loved she must felt – that made it all worth it.

 

It was hard to imagine a more perfect end for the perfect day on the perfect date.

Eventually, though, they got up to go ride home in Frank’s RV, but had exhausted themselves so much from their fun that they fell asleep on his couch half way to Chloe’s home.

Frank didn’t have the heart to wake them up, and neither did Sera, so instead Frank just drove to drop off Sera, then parked somewhere in the junkyard to sleep in his bedroom.

Not before draping the cuddled-up pile of girls with a blanket, though, smiling.

 

\---

 

When Victoria stirred, her world was scary – dark, shifting shapes, unclear thoughts.

She groaned and sort of collapsed into herself until the fog in her mind cleared enough that she could actually think about things.

The Tempest –

Victoria stood up and almost fell over but was supported by a set of arms suddenly coming around her and steadying her.

Unconsciously, she just became limp and allowed herself to just be plainly supported, blinking her eyes until she could see who or what it was that had supported her – Nathan.

She smiled.

“Ughhh … Nate. I feel – I feel like _shit_. The … fuck.”

Nathan kept his arms strong around her.

“Shh. I dunno. We just found you like this before the play even started.”

Victoria looked sharply up to him, though her eyes were mostly unseeing,

“The play! Oh my god. We have to – I can’t –“

Nathan bit his lip and hesitated,

“- V.”

Victoria blinked.

“W-what?”

Nathan sighed.

 

“You missed the play. Rachel took over your role.”  


Victoria’s jaw fucking dropped.

Before she could help it, she felt her eyes getting wet and teary and she _hated_ that response but – she shoved her face into Nathan’s shirt and just sniffled.

She hated it, but the tears came anyway.

She hated.

Hate.

Even as her world became blurry, even as Nathan’s arms gave her that comfort, it was the one thing that started to consume her.

Hate.

It didn’t take her long to realize what happened – why Chloe took up the counter point role suddenly, why Rachel stopped trying to convince her to drop the role, why Chloe pulled her away from her area right before the play.

 

Hate.

 

Somewhere in there was anger, too – an inexorable frustrated sound expelled from somewhere deep in her core, automatic, nearly a scream but muffled with his shirt – but mostly hate.

When she stilled her tears and Nathan told her more – like she was found with offensive writing on her face – there was nothing else in Victoria’s body anymore.

Hate.

She was betrayed, and the world proved just how cruel it could really be – her father was basically right, it seemed.

There was no trusting anyone.

Hate.

 

She was suddenly determined – she was going to do everything in her fucking power to _ruin_ Rachel and Chloe.

Starting with that fucking rumor about Rachel’s dad.

Victoria was going to find out everything she possibly could about that, print it up on posters and make sure every fucking brick in this town was plastered with whatever shit Rachel had over her head.

Shouldn’t be too hard to get Chloe in trouble with Mr. Wells, either.

Might even be able to get her expelled, if she tried hard enough.

 

Hate.

 

\---

 

As David moved in, one of his first decrees was, unsurprisingly, for Chloe to clean her room.

She kinda didn’t want to, but it was whatever.

Rachel told her to just get it over with so they could spend more time together and Chloe didn’t care enough to postpone that just to prove a point to him.

The sun pouring into her room was always a comforting thing, bathing her room in soft light that penetrated through her shades, especially so early in the morning.

Chloe took some items out of her desk and tossed them sort of carelessly into a box specifically for tossing things out.

A lot of this stuff was just old things she was holding onto, but it’d been forever since she bothered to reminisce about most of this, since she just had better things to do, now …

She stopped when she pulled one item off – some old, ancient drawing of Max – and saw the journal underneath.

Her journal …

Chloe hesitated, but then smiled, and picked the journal up.

She placed it on her desk and let her hands just run along it for a few seconds, feeling the age and wear, before slowly opening it and starting to go through some of the old stuff she had written in it.

The last page was when her relationship with Rachel was just starting, and Chloe didn’t know what would come of it – but that was weeks, months ago.

This was never going to see the light of day, but it felt appropriate to ‘end’ it with a sendoff.

The idea that Max would suddenly return was no longer there – Chloe had accepted Max was gone, and probably never coming back, but there was just some sort of mawkish sentimental thing about writing in this.

She found a pen, somewhere in all of the disarray, and flipped to a ‘new’ page.

 

_Max,_

_Where do I even begin?_

_I guess I’ll just come right out with it: Rachel’s basically my wife now._

_Yeah. I’ve had a crazy-ass time since my last letter._

_You’d be invited to the wedding, if I thought you would respond, and if there was any ceremony to begin with, but Rachel’s just beyond that kind of stuff, you know? Who needs it. Instead of forcing me into some kind of dumb dress we just made out in front of the entire school after professing our unending dedication to each other. I wonder how you’d handle something like that? It sounds pretty crazy when I sum it up like that, but in the moment, you feel like you can do anything so long as she’s around._

_I know that’s what I used to give you. But you’ve moved on, I guess, and so have I._

_Things matter, finally. School matters. My life matters. So long as Rachel is in it. She’s my everything, Max, and I wish you were here to learn just how amazing she is. But I know that won’t happen – so I just wish you’re okay without me. I hope you’ve found how to live your life like I have. I hope it has meaning. Purpose._

_You’re gone. You’re probably never coming back._

_But that’s just life, you know? So long as you never give up, eventually things work out._

_God, that makes me sound so old. Like something you’d quote. Put it on a book cover, or something._

_Anyway, there’s so much else I can tell you – would you believe it if I told you my hair is blue now? - and so much has happened to me, but for once, I think it’s best if I just … stop._

_This is the last entry I’m ever going to write in this thing._

_I’m doing okay._

_Love,_

_Chloe_

Chloe smiled, closed the journal, and tossed it into the other box by her feet – the one that would be sealed up and probably placed in some dark corner of the attic to remain for years untouched.

But at least not thrown away.

Not totally forgotten.

She then continued going through her old stuff, feeling surprisingly content and like she had some real closure for once.

 

Chloe didn’t even think about that journal.

Not once.

Not even when she eventually taped the box up and handed it over.

She had other things to think about, now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
> 
> I have a few things to say here - first off, I want to give thanks to my beta reader [googlycat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/googlycat/pseuds/googlycat), who offered considerable help throughout. Their version of Rachel has always been foundational to mine, so their help was especially appreciated in such a Rachel-heavy story.
> 
> I also want to say that I will be writing Yet Another Season One Rewrite based in this story's continuity but where Rachel lives and works through the why and how of her powers. That's still cooking, but you can use it as a sort of headcanon in case you don't really want to acknowledge her untimely death, which ... I don't blame you.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! I always appreciate comments and try to respond to all of them.


End file.
